Barra O’Donnabhain, who holds a PhD degree in Anthropology from the University of Chicago, is an Irish bioarchaeologist who has been conducting archaeological research in Ireland and other parts of the world for over 25 years. His publications cover a wide temporal span as well as a broad range of themes but are characterized by an integrative approach in their reconstructions of past lives. This is exemplified by recent papers dealing with the political use of the ritualized violence of public executions (2011) and the role of the quotidian use of material culture in the construction of identity in Viking Age Dublin (2013). He co-edited the volume “The Dead Tell Tales” that was published by the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press at UCLA (2013). O’Donnabhain has directed and collaborated in archaeological projects in a number of world areas. The volume also explores the future trajectories of the study of skeletal remains in the different jurisdictions under scrutiny. In a context where methodological approaches have been increasingly standardized in recent decades, the volume poses the question if this standardization has led to a convergence in approaches to archaeological human remains or if significant differences remain between practitioners in different countries. The volume situates this diversity of attitudes by examining past and current tendencies in studies of archaeologically-retrieved human remains across a range of geopolitical settings. Overlooked in many previous publications, this diversity in attitudes is examined through a variety of lenses, including academic origins, national identities, supporting institutions, archaeological context, and globalization.
This volume addresses the directions that studies of archaeological human remains have taken in a number of different countries, where attitudes range from widespread support to prohibition.
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