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Do you need special permission to excavate human remains?
Yes. The excavation of any human burial requires a licence from the Home Office. This frequently imposes conditions, including arrangements for scientific examination of the remains and their disposal afterwards. Other commonly applied licence conditions include requirements that:
(a) 'the removal shall be effected with due care and attention to decency'; and
(b) 'the ground in which the remains are interred shall be screened from the public gaze while the work of removal is in progress'.
A licence must be obtained regardless of the age of the remains. Matthew Reynolds, who ran the Time Team Club for its first few years, recalls one having to be obtained for a Bronze-Age excavation he once worked on. And he remembers also the police having to be called in when human bones were uncovered on a Neolithic site he was helping to excavate. Inspector Morse had to be persuaded that he wasn't needed on that occasion!
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