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Photo Pages: Alexander Keiller Museum - Museum in England in Wiltshire
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Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 06 April 2010 Page Views: 6496
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Avebury museum celebrates 70th (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Wednesday, 16 April 2008
(User Info | Send a Message) | Impersonators recreate the raising of one of the stones at Avebury
The 70th anniversary of the founding of the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury was heralded by some less than serious goings on at the stone circle on Thursday.
To publicise the sale of tickets for the big celebration on June 1, National Trust staff at the ancient monument re-enacted the raising of one of the huge stones for the press last Thursday.
A polystyrene copy of one of the stones was solemnly raised using a primitive block-and-tackle system of pulleys, as Mr Keiller, the Dundee marmalade heir, would have used for his reconstruction of the site back in the 1930s.
When one of the huge stones, which had been dismantled and buried by monks from Avebury Abbey in the Middle Ages, was lifted by Keiller and his workers, the skeleton of a man was found.
From the tools found by the body, he was identified as a barber-surgeon and the group re-enacted that incident with visitor services manager Eleanor Eaton as the unfortunate medic.
The Trust promises a day packed with events on June 1.
Read more at This is Wiltshire | [ Reply to This ]
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Militant Druids fight museum over a 4,000-year-old skeleton called Charlie (Score: 1)
by coldrum on Friday, 23 January 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | A group of militant Druids has forced an expensive official inquiry after demanding that a museum releases a 4,000-year-old skeleton called 'Charlie' so they can rebury it.
They claim the bones of a young girl and seven other sets of prehistoric remains excavated near the ancient stone circle in Avebury, Wiltshire, are their 'tribal ancestors'.
If their claim is rejected, they have threatened to take a test case to the High Court under the Human Rights Act.
The row has triggered two years of meetings and reports by state-funded English Heritage and the charity The National Trust, which have been given powers by the Government to decide the case.
They are conducting a public consultation before issuing a judgment later this year. English Heritage said it could not estimate the cost but one source said: 'It could run into tens of thousands of pounds.'
Archaeologists fear that if the Druids' claims are successful, they could open the floodgates to increasingly bizarre demands, stripping museums of their collections.
Critics say the group making the claim, the Council of British Druids Orders, is unrepresentative and has hijacked legislation enacted after Tony Blair was lobbied to return Aboriginal remains kept in Britain, some of which were repatriated.
The Druids made their demand to the Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury under the Human Tissue Act, which allows museums to return human remains.
They claim that remains in the museum include their ancestors Hawk, from the ancient Order of the Sidhe, and Lydia, Swordbearer of the Glastonbury Outer Order of Druids.
The Druids' reburials officer Paul Davies said: 'Our claim is based on ethics and the inextricable link between these our tribal ancestors and the landscape.'
Mr Davies admitted that his group was small and was itself split. A breakaway Arthurian Warband faction, led by the self-styled Uther Pendragon, who claims to be the reincarnation of King Arthur, demands an end to all archaeological digs around henges and barrows.
'The Warband split away from us so we have two groups calling themselves the Council of British Druid Orders,' said Mr Davies.
'But our group has a good relationship with English Heritage and The National Trust, who have held quarterly meetings with us and allowed us to have two beautiful healing sessions at the museum.'
Critics say modern Druids have very little connection with the ancient priests.
Mike Pitts, editor of British Archaeology, said: 'There are very small numbers who hold beliefs that they are chosen as Druids and have spiritual links with these places and the remains found in them.
'The notion that they should be custodians of these remains is preposterous. Some Druid groups are becoming increasingly militant and belligerent.'
Emma Restall Orr, a Druid priestess and founder of the more mainstream Honouring the Ancient Dead, said: 'The group making this claim is very small and some of their number are extremists.'
English Heritage said it recognised there were 'sensitive issues' involved and that it had to balance the claims of the Druids against the public interest.
A spokesman said: 'It is a test case and it is necessary to be thorough.'
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it had delegated powers to English Heritage and The National Trust and would not comment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1120730/Militant-Druids-fight-museum-4-000-year-old-skeleton-called-Charlie.html?ITO=1490 | [ Reply to This ]
Re: Militant Druids fight museum over a 4,000-year-old skeleton called Charlie (Score: 1)
by Andy B (andy@megalithic.co.uk) on Friday, 23 January 2009
(User Info | Send a Message) | In a poll that has been running for the last couple of month, our visitors agree strongly that this is a waste of time:
What should be done with the human remains in Avebury Museum?
Human Remains should stay on display in the museum 17.70 % (54)
Take them off display but keep in museum for study 2.95 % (9)
Rebury them in a way they are accessible for study 5.57 % (17)
Rebury them forever in the World Heritage site 13.44 % (41)
Modern Druids should have no say - waste of time! 60.33 % (184)
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/pollBooth.php?op=results&pollID=59&mode=nested&order=1&thold= |
[ Reply to This ]
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Avebury Reburial Request denied, human remains to remain in Avebury Museum (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Tuesday, 06 April 2010
(User Info | Send a Message) | After consideration of evidence and extensive consultation, English Heritage have decided that the prehistoric human remains in the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, should be kept in the museum for the benefit of public access and understanding.
These Neolithic human remains were excavated in the Avebury area by Alexander Keiller between 1929 and 1935. In 2006, Paul Davies of the Council of British Druid Orders requested their reburial. English Heritage and the National Trust followed the recently-published DCMS process in considering this request, and went out to public consultation in 2009 on a draft report which set out the evidence and different options.
English Heritage and the National Trust have now published a report on the results of this consultation, and a second report on the results of a public opinion survey. Our summary report concludes that the request should be refused for four main reasons:
* the benefit to future understanding likely to result from not reburying the remains far outweighs the harm likely to result from not reburying them;
* it does not meet the criteria set out by the DCMS for considering such requests;
* not reburying the remains is the more reversible option;
* the public generally support the retention of prehistoric human remains in museums, and their inclusion in museum displays to increase understanding.
Source:English Heritage, where you can read the full reports are at
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.19819 | [ Reply to This ]
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