Museums are places where the artefacts and specimens of the human and natural world are used to educate, entertain and inspire the public. The museum view of human remains has changed over time. Where once bodies or skeletons would be displayed as an object of curiosity, today there is a more respectful attitude: these were once living people.

Displays and labels acceptable in the 1980s would not be acceptable today, such as writing on the remains. Human remains are not just objects, and archaeologists and curators follow legal and ethical guidelines that restrict how they are stored and used. Requests for the return of human remains to their descendants are always carefully considered.