ABSTRACT
Joel Best (1987) observes that newly constructed problems may encourage new claims-makers. This chapter examines such a process. The prevailing cultural climate in which human remains became objects of contestation cultivated the conditions for different Pagan groups to make claims on human remains, in order to lend weight to their existing demands for recognition and involvement in heritage issues. Pertinent to this study is the reaction to their campaigning by the museum sector. Despite considerable diffi culties in the framing of the problem by Pagan activists, one group in particular, Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD), has had a moderate infl uence.2 Certain professionals have been highly positive towards this group’s activism, because it fi tted with their agenda in challenging professional authority. Although the response of the rest of the sector to HAD has been more ambivalent, an inability to draw the line regarding who should be involved in museum practice and why means that activism from Pagans has had an infl uence that professionals fi nd diffi cult to resist.
