But is it Art? Collecting Human Body Parts, Legal? Ethical?

In today's Antiquities, Ancient and Ethnographic Art auction on Liveauctioneers.com, Artemis Gallery Ancient Art (Robert and Teresa Dodge, Elaine Jamieson: Erie, CO 80516) sold off Lot 263:

A Very Rare Egyptian Mummified Foot Estimate $7,000 - $9,000 New Kingdom, extremely rare mummy's foot. Traces of gilding on bandages. Toenails in perfect shape. Prints still intact on bottom of toes. L[ength].7-1/2 [inches] PROVENANCE: Old America collection from the 1920/30s Condition report: Fragmentary.

Well, let us start with that "provenance", "Old America (sic) collection" is not a provenance. It gives no cultural context to the object at all, in fact it does not even identify the object as from Egypt, let alone ancient Egypt (its a human foot wrapped up in linen and dessicated). Howactually is it "dated" to the New Kingdom (as opposed for example to Ptolemaic or early Coptic?)

Let us assume it is ancient Egyptian as the seller asserts. Is this "very rare"? Well, I have just spent three months living in the Theban necropolis, and in my wanderings in the bits the tourists do not usually go, I very frequently came across ancient human remains lying where they'd been thrown out of the tombs by people later using them for one thing or another. Not "rare" at all there. I must admit however the idea of picking bits up with the thought that in Colorado some uscrupulous idiot will pay thousands of dollars for it to sell over the internet never really crossed my mind. More generally I put them carefully in a nearby place where the'd be protected from the sun, tourists trampling and scavengers, I guess I should add to that list of threats US portable antiquity dealers and collectors. The idea of taking it home and displaying it (even as a form of "protection") far from theplace where it was laid to rest really is abhorrent as it would have been to the individuals involved in the funeral.
The "object" (its not really a "portable antiquity" is it? Neither is it really "ancient art") is not really "fragmentary", it's holding together quite well accordiong to the photographs. What it is however is a fragment broken off what was a complete body and the bits scattered to the four winds, in this case to the USA and sold off through the Internet. That seems extremely disrespectful of the bearers of the ancient culture portable antiquity collectors claim to be honouring by their collection.

Who would buy such a thing and what for? Which of the "justifications" usually trotted out to make portable artefact collecting sound beneficial (sic) could one apply here? I really cannot think of a single one that would excuse this kind of treatment of human remains.

A few days ago a member of a collecting forum with a conscience raised this point:

Does the fact that this poor individual died so long ago make this alright? I'm ready to accept the sale of grave-goods and associated funerary artifacts, but people collecting actual body parts? Come on, you'd need to be some kind of ghoulish dracula to put in a bid for that. Anyone that puts in a bid for this should be put on some kind of serial killer watch-list, just in case.

Leaving aside the idea that for some reason this person thinks it is "alright" to loot graves for "grave-goods and associated funerary artefacts" for commercial reasons, the question about the sale of human tissue is a perfectly cogent one. In fact it did not raise much of a reaction from collectors, but after the auction was over the dealer Bob Dodge triumphantly announced:

For those of you who were watching the earlier thread about our Egyptian Mummified Foot, it sold today for $6K and there were multiple bids - I guess there are a lot of potential serial killers out there, right? That was a really crazy post...

I personally do not think it was a "really crazy" post at all, whether or not the dealer wants to admit it or not, that was clearly a very valid question being asked. Just to put the answer in context, this is a picture from the Artemis Gallery website of the US dealer in dessicated human tissue, playing hide and seek with a tribal mask (if it is real, potentially an object of religious significance to some group too)




Bob Dodge

As far as I can see the legal situation in the US is rather confusing about the sale of human tissues. The law is clear about remains coming from Native American graves, but I am having difficulty finding what it says about digging up non-Native graves and selling the remains found in them, or the sale of human tissue cut from living bodies, though I assume there must be such legislation as there have been a number of police actions taken as a result of scandals about the running of cemeteries and the unauthorised selling of human body parts over there. There also does seem to be some legislation which governs the movement of such material across the borders of some states, which seems to add to the confusion. EBay does have a global policy which forbids the use of its facilities for the sale of such material (and when notified, has quickly taken down auctions which violate it) , but as far as I can see Liveauctioneers.com does not have such a policy (at least one displayed in an obvious place). This is rather odd, but then they use the same get-out as EBay: it is merely a "gateway linking bidders to traditional auction events broadcast in real time via the Internet".

Does the fact that somebody has taken it upon themselves to become a collector of portable antiquities somehow excuse them from the norms by which others live? Would you let your children go alone to do their homework to the home of a neighbour who you know has human bodyparts in the parlour? What kind of a person would that be? Archaeologists have codes of ethics and professional practice which would not allow them to keep such items in their parlour - why would collectors not feel restrained by a similar sense of ethics and what is and what is not respectful treatment of human remains?

"There were multiple bids and it sold for 6000 $", to whom? And what are they going to use it for? To take out of its box at coctail parties to entertain his guests?

Illustrations: the human tissue in question from the original Artemis Auction; Bob Dodge from his own website, vignette, still from The Mummy Returns