Wednesday, 3 January 2018

US dealers selling Human Remains as 'Collectables' Again


These people are just sick. Another Manhattan dealer (no prizes for guessing which one) has been profiting from the sale of stolen human remains smuggled to the United States (Callum Paton, 'Ancient Egyptian Mummy's Skull and Dismembered Hands to be Returned to Egypt 90 Years After Being Taken to the U.S' Newsweek, 3rd January 2018).
The skull and two dismembered hands are to be returned to Egypt following an intervention by U.S. investigators, who prevented an American dealer from selling the contraband to a buyer in Manhattan [...]  The ancient body parts appear to have been bought by an American in Egypt in 1927 [...]  in the country’s southern city of Luxor [...] Throughout the first half the 20th century in Egypt and beyond the looting of ancient tombs and monuments was rife. Often western collectors viewed the artefacts as little more than souvenirs.
What does a collector 'do' with something like thins in a glass case in g=his 'den'? I hardly see they can claim to be using it for any kind of 'citizen archaeological reseach'. It is just a gruesome trophy, probably used as some kind of macho-man display which is totally inappropriate manner to treat the mortal remains of another human being. Collectors who do this sort of thing are just animals.

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