Psychical Research in Archaeology: Can the dead direct the living?

Talk of psychics conjures up images of mad old ladies conducting séances and bringing forth spirits made of cheese cloth, but last night at the Petrie Museum, Dr Amara Thornton (UCL Institute of Archaeology) took us through evidence for psychical involvement in archaeological investigations.

Principally, she concentrated on the life of one woman, Agnes Conway, who in the early 20^th century was responsible for a series of archaeological investigations of Petra in Jordan. As well as being a respected archaeologist, Conway was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), a group that was involved in the scientific exploration of unexplained phenomena.

The society was comprised of some of the country’s leading figures in archaeology and edited two journals, one of which was available to members of the public and one, full of less ‘firm’ and more controversial results, that was for members only.

The society’s scientific focus is clear; one lady who attended a presentation by the SPR remarked to a friend that it was less thrilling than she expected and it is likely that many visitors hoping to see the spirits of ancient peoples went home disappointed.

Dr Thornton related several instances of Conway’s use of psychical research at Petra, but, for me, the most entertaining anecdote was of another archaeologist, Frederick Bond, who was working at Glastonbury. He conducted an automatic writing session, which was believed to allow spirits or other forces to communicate through the pen of the living, which appeared to reveal the location of a lost chapel.

When Bond excavated the area he found not only the chapel he was looking for, but also a set of human remains. Could it be that the person buried there really had reached out to Bond from beyond the grave?

Members of the SPR were careful to keep their psychical research separate from their archaeological work, and data often went unpublished for years. It must have been frustrating for these scientists to be unable to share their findings with the larger archaeological community, but it is likely that, had they tried to push their ideas too far, they would have been made a laughing stock.

Communicating with the dead is something many people would love to be able to do and the notion of people who died many hundreds of years ago being able to tell us intimate details of their lives is undeniably appealing. However, it is not one that has widespread support and although psychical research hasn’t died out, it is still incredibly controversial. Personally I can’t quite bring myself to believe in an ability to communicate with ‘the other side’, much as I might like to, but who knows if I’m right?

Conway, Bond and the rest of the SPR certainly had strong beliefs. Whether their findings were really due to their own interpretations or whether they really were able to hear the dead, I’ll leave up to you to decide.

Katherine Aitchison is a Second year PhD student at the UCL Institute of Child Health.