Ancient coffin breaks as child put in it at Southend museum

BBC: Ancient coffin breaks as child put in it at Southend museum

A "historically unique" 800-year-old stone coffin was damaged when visitors to a museum put a child inside it. Part of the sarcophagus tumbled over and a chunk fell off at Prittlewell Priory Museum in Southend, Essex, as the Southend Echo reported. Staff were "shocked and upset" at the "unbelievable incident", said conservator Claire Reed, who now has the job of repairing it. Those responsible were caught on CCTV but ran off without reporting it.

but they were 'ínteracting with the past' were they not? Just like artefact hunters and collectors (who damage whole sites by pulling out random diagnostic finds, and then do a runner, mostly without reporting). When are we going to see some proper archaeological outreach about how to treat portable antiquities. What we need is some kind of a sensible Scheme,...no?

UPDATE 27th August 2017
the embodiment of disrespectful British 'interactions with the past' has attracted the attention even of the press in far-off Poland: wlozyli-dziecko-do-800-letniej-trumny-w-muzeum

(hat tip - Joanna Górska)