Over their dead bodies: Facial reconstructions, ethics, and national storytelling at museums

Abstract

Museum displays of forensic reconstructions of human remains objectify once-living human beings and happen without their consent. As museum objects, realistic-looking sculptures and 3D digital reconstructions are narratively and conceptionally powerful representations of individuals who lived in the territory of what is today a modern nation-state. Current changes in attitudes towards museums’ uses of human remains invite consideration of museums’ tendency to represent such ancient humans as national ancestors who are similar to people today. Taking a Cultural Studies analytical approach, this paper discusses the ethics and narrative properties of facial reconstructions and 3D animations of both archaeological and historical human remains at selected museums in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The analysis draws on scholarship, observations of actual and virtual museum displays, news reports, and museum websites to consider the ethical and narrative implications of displaying life-like renditions of pre-nation-state individuals within the context of national storytelling.