Page 44 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Human remains
• Underwater cultural heritage may contain human remains as part and parcel of the deposit.
• Human remains may be of considerable scientific interest.
• Human remains shall be handled with respect.
• Human remains shall not be disturbed unne-
cessarily.
Venerated sites
• Some underwater cultural heritage sites are venerated sites.
• No activities at venerated sites shall be planned or authorized without prior involvement of interested parties.
• Venerated sites shall not be disturbed unnecessarily.
 © INAH / SAS. Underwater archaeologist records a Mayan skeleton at the bottom of cenote Calaveras in yucatan, Mexico.
A human skeleton from about 11,000 BC (late Pleistocene age) was found 487 m inside the cave Chan Hol (meaning ‘small hole’ in Mayan).
Underwater cultural heritage may contain human remains as part and parcel of the deposit. Although human remains may be of considerable scientific interest, research activities shall avoid
the unnecessary disturbance of human remains and always handle them with due respect.
significance is perceived differently by different people, by different interested parties, and by different ‘stakeholder’ groups. This is particularly true for heritage that includes human remains and venerated sites and relates to varying ways that cultures associate with this heritage, depending on their relationship with the deceased, religious convictions or historical associations. Moreover, there is great cultural diversity in what the dead or their remains mean for the living.
Human remains solicit great scientific interest as exemplified by the fierce scientific debates on early human evolution. The present opportunities to isolate human DNA or to reconstruct food patterns on the basis of dental degradation or the relative presence of various stable iso- topes, are examples that indi- cate how new research can build onto what has been done before, both in relation to the distant past and to more recent periods. This applies in particular to human remains that have been preserved in the submerged environment,
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General Principles