The Immortals: Prehistoric Individuals as Ideological and Therapeutic Tools in our Time

Abstract

Archaeologists have begun to look more closely at the history of displaying the dead in museums. One important reason for this is a growing awareness of the fact that, apart from deepening our understanding of certain events in prehistory, the evidence, such as bodies in different states of decay as well as grave-goods, reflects changing attitudes towards death and what it means to be human. One example is Howard Williams’s appeal for the need to look at how early medieval graves are displayed in British museums. He points out that we must be more aware of the seductive and even misleading reconstructions that we can see today, but he also suggested that we should focus more on ‘the bigger picture’: the broader contexts of factors and influences affecting how we display the archaeological dead. This concerns the question: ‘What do the early medieval dead ever do for us?’ He suggests that currently we pay too much attention to the two ‘fringe groups’: those who either stand for the scientific value alone of human remains on the one hand or those who object to the display of the dead on ethical or religious grounds on the other (Williams 2010). Instead, he proposes we focus more on the social roles of the archaeological dead in contemporary society. For several years I have worked on similar issues, mainly with the purpose of understanding why some individuals from the past become famous and ‘immortal’ whereas others are more or less forgotten in their showcases (Nordström 2006a,b, 2007, 2010). I have adopted a biographical approach to human remains in museums in order to afford a full picture of these individuals’ ideological and therapeutic value in contemporary society. What do they, as individuals, as timeless renowned characters, mean to us today? It is important to understand their role in our modern world both as evidence for the human past and as famous objects in museums today. Last but not least, it is vital to recognize that the mass media—newspapers, documentaries, and the like—play an important role in how these individuals’ stories are told and retold.