Middle School Intersession 2025

A lot of our current beliefs about the past are not based in science. For instance, a lot of people think that aliens built the pyramids, or that people practiced human sacrifice at Stonehenge. Both of these are popular myths because they make a much more exciting story than the truth! How can archaeologists help people understand more about the ancient world so that we can figure out what’s true?

Why are humans remains important in archaeology? How can we use the bodies of ancient people to tell us more about their lives - and how can looking at living people today help us understand the way we used to live before technologies like computers and plastic?

A lot of our current beliefs about the past are not based in science. For instance, a lot of people think that aliens built the pyramids, or that people practiced human sacrifice at Stonehenge. Both of these are popular myths because they make a much more exciting story than the truth! How can archaeologists help people understand more about the ancient world so that we can figure out what’s true?

Why are humans remains important in archaeology? How can we use the bodies of ancient people to tell us more about their lives - and how can looking at living people today help us understand the way we used to live before technologies like computers and plastic?

Museums curate and display human remains in order to research the past and to educate the public. But it has come to light that many of the individuals on display might not have considered the museum to be their ideal final resting place. Adding in individual and indigenous voices problematises the concept of curation of human remains, but many archaeologists see us on a path we can’t retreat from without radically changing the field. Museum visitors also expect to see skeletons, and most find it part of their education - and often inspires them to go into research of medicine. Additionally, ancient cultures and modern society have radically different views of the afterlife, consent, and burial practices that are often at odds with each other. In this session we’ll learn about and debate these differing views.

Key questions: How can we as curators and archaeologists balance these different value systems? Do the dead have a voice, and what would they argue for? What are some of the arguments for and against keeping human remains on a case-by-case basis? How can we develop more complex arguments than "I wouldn't want that to happen to my body" when all of our ideas of our bodies are different?

Did you know the pyramids are visible from downtown Cairo? But Stonehenge is in a protected countryisde area? And that people still live in Angkor Wat? We will look at ancient archaeological sites - who built them, how they have been interpreted, and how modern people use these monuments.