Jim Dixon- I believe it was Saint Augustine who postulated the theory in question. He wrote that if a man is starving and eats another man, even if the eaten man is absorbed into the starving man's flesh, God knows to whom each body belongs. The same holds true for a drowned man eaten by fish, wild animals, etc. God can extract a man's "essence" from bubbles of air. The man/fish/wild animal/whatever will have just "borrowed" the dead man's body for a time. I knew that degree in medieval history and literature would come in handy...

As to archaeolgy as grave robbing, it seems to me that we all more object to the sensationalism of shows like "Opening the Lost Tombs" or "Digging up Banjo Johnny's Mum", rather than the archaeology itself. There's no scientific or cultural knowledge to be gained by letting celebrities traipse through old tombs. But, for an example, we wouldn't know much of anything about ancient Egyptian culture had it not been for the first archaeologists. They may have destroyed more artifacts than they saved, but they paved the way for modern scholars and scientists. And to be fair, many American museums, under NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), have returned artifacts, bones, and objects to native groups that have requested them. Then again, I'm biased, since I work in a museum myself. Our museum has a native collection; we've returned some objects ourselves, and we work with tribal council to make sure that the rest of the objects we hold in the public trust are treated with due respect, and are represented fairly.

I'm getting off my soap box now.

Jigger