The reburial of ancient bones is so much horseshit; the only bones that matter are the ones with the flesh still on them, however so frail that flesh might be.

I suspect SS hasn't spent much time involved with Indigenous people in places colonised by Europeans. Should SS come to Oz s/he will be immersed into a context where the 'flesh' clinging to the bones is more spiritual and cultural than strictly corporeal. As a result, the broad consensus of the community, supported in legislation, is that human remains excavated as a result of proper archaeological activities are treated with respect and interred or cremated according to the rites required by the relevant Aboriginal community.

Those remains that were disinterred as a result of grave-robbing have, in many cases, also been returned to the control of the relevant Aboriginal community; some of the grave-robbing was "scientific" and most was for the private profit of the robber.

All Aboriginal communities have insisted on the return of such remains and some have permitted the returned remains to be lodged. still under their 'jurisdiction' or 'aegis', in properly curated museum conditions while others have insisted the remains must be interred or cremated according to cultural requirements.

Some inheritors of the European colonial acquisitions insist on resisting Aboriginal communities' requests (supported by their governments) for the return of Aboriginal remains. I suppose one's own attitude towards such issues is determined largely by where one sees Aborigines and where one sees oneself on the spectrum connecting colonisers with the colonised.

Cheers, Rowan