Abstract 

This podcast addresses the issue of grave goods in both a historical and contemporary context. Grave goods are material things which people leave in grave sites, usually in the knowledge they will never be returned. The first part of the podcast discusses ancient grave goods in Scotland, which fall to be addressed under the law of treasure trove. We are joined by Mr Neil Curtis, Head of Museums and Special Collections, for this part of the podcast. The second part of the podcast discusses the practice of leaving grave goods in a contemporary context. Grave goods have an ambiguous status in law, especially when mistakes are made and need to be reversed. For this part of the podcast we are joined by Dr Jennifer Riley, who is currently studying grave goods as part of a Leverhulme research project. This podcast is moderated by Dr Jonathan Ainslie of the School of Law.

Death & Law - Interdisciplinary Explorations | School of Law | The University of Aberdeen 

Biographies 

Mr Neil Curtis

Neil Curtis is Head of Museums and Special Collections and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Social Science at the University of Aberdeen. He has studied Archaeology (Glasgow), Museum Studies (Leicester) and Education (Aberdeen), and has worked with the Aberdeen collections since 1988. He teaches across a range of subjects, including Archaeology, Anthropology, Art History, History, Law, Museum Studies and Scottish Ethnology. His published research includes current museum issues, including repatriation, decolonisation and ethics, the history of museums and exhibitions in Scotland, and the prehistory of North-East Scotland. He is a Fellow of the Museums Association. He has been a member of the Museums Associations’ Ethics Committee, the Scottish Museums Recognition Committee, Convenor of University Museums in Scotland, Vice President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vice-Chair of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel and Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/neil.curtis

Dr Jennifer Riley 

Dr Jennifer Riley is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career fellow and interdisciplinary scholar, specializing in religious studies and the study of death and dying. Her current research explores ‘grave goods’ in contemporary Britain - the things people put in other people’s coffins or graves, knowing they will almost certainly never get them back. The project explores these objects and their associated meanings and motivations - especially in light of environmental concerns, and people’s afterlife beliefs (or their absence). This research was the subject of her TEDxAberdeen talk in November 2024, which was selected as an 'Editor's Pick' by the TEDx reviewers.  Dr Riley joined Aberdeen in 2021 as a research fellow on the ESRC-funded ‘Care in Funerals’ project, exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic affected UK funerals. The project was a collaboration across health services research, anthropology, religious studies, archaeology and philosophy, and benefitted from practitioner expertise. 

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/jennifer.riley

Dr Jonathan Ainslie 

Dr Jonathan Ainslie has been a Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Aberdeen since February 2022. He initially joined the School of Law as a Teaching Fellow in September 2021. He holds an LLB Hons (in law and politics), LLM (in comparative and European private law) and PhD (in legal history), all from the University of Edinburgh. He is an Advance HE Associate Fellow, a member of the council of the Stair Society and an associate member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen. Recent published articles have concerned duties of good faith in contract and the protection of privacy interests in delict. Current research includes work on the remedy of solatium in Scots law, which is available for pain, suffering and injury to emotions, as well as the boundary between persons and things in Scots private law. Jonathan teaches across a wide range of private law subjects. 

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/jonathan.ainslie

Further Resources

·       D.L. Carey Miller, “St Ninian’s Treasure”, in J.P. Grant and E.E. Sutherland (eds), Scots Law Tales (2010): 111-35.

·       A.G. Guest, The Law of Treasure (2018): 1-55.

·       N.M. Dawson, A Modern Legal History of Treasure (2023): 361-440 (for Scotland), 251-360 (for England and Wales).

·       C. Bevan, “A New Definition of ‘Treasure’ under the Treasure Act 1996: Watershed
 Reform or Missed Opportunity?” Modern Law Review 87(2) (2024): 430-447.

·       Baggage for the Beyond? Contemporary UK grave goods practices and their meanings: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/dhpa/disciplines/divinity/research/ongoing-research-projects/baggage-for-the-beyond-contemporary-uk-grave-goods-practices-and-their-meanings/