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. (Source: Daily Mail)
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. (Source: Daily Mail)
