The place of human remains in the frame of cultural heritage: the restitution of medieval skeletons from a Jewish cemetery

Abstract

• The restitution and reburial of human skeletons from a Medieval Jewish cemetery • Different types of human skeletal remains are differently managed • Uncertain position of human skeletal remains in the frame of cultural heritage • The role of Institutions in the management of the human remains • The need for ethical codes and guidelines in Italy For social, cultural, religious and political reasons the human remains may represent powerful symbols with different meanings that changed over time among the different communities and countries. Thus, they have a sensitive nature that poses them in a “grey area”, still failing in terms of finding an adequate positioning in the research, in the contemporary cultural institutions and museums. Italy still lacks any official guidelines to follow in the case of protests and claims for restitution of human remains. Only recently, Italy experienced for the first time the restitution and reburial of skeletons coming from a medieval Jewish cemetery before the whole anthropological study could be completed. This event re-opens the debate, largely addressed in many Western countries from the 1990s but marginally until now in Italy, of the disputes between the legitimacy of scientific research on human remains and other various instances (ethnicity, religion, public view…). The case study provides the opportunity to propose our reflections on the legal position of human remains and on their fate in the often-contrasting viewpoints between the public and the researches.