Response to Students

Prompt:

Repatriation of Skeletal Remains Controversy

In the 17th century, it was common to sell Egyptian mummies to the public to use for medicinal purposes. As gruesome as it sounds, people routinely consumed mummified remains (or ground up skeletal remains) as a form of medicine to treat everything from headaches to epilepsy. Mummies were stolen from Egyptian tombs, and grave-robbers stole remains from bogs and burial sites. It was believed that body parts contained the “spirit” of the body, so you could treat your condition by ingesting a body part that is associated with the ailment you have. This practice was legally permitted.

Over time, controversies around ethical standards and the treatment of human remains have led to heated debates. Indigenous communities have especially challenged anthropological practices that involve digging up remains to study the human lineage. The following quotes provide some context on the political backlash related to repatriation:

“Representatives of Australian Aborigines argue that the spirits of their ancestors must be released from the continuing barbaric torment inflicted on them by incarceration in the store of a museum” (Besterman/Foley,2003:51).

“Any Indian bodies found, Indian people could take care of and the archaeologists could take a flying leap off the highest ledge … archaeologists are the enemy of the Indian people” (Hammil/Cruz,2008:197,200).

In Iowa, at a cemetery where skeletal remains were exhumed, white pioneer remains were immediately reburied while Native American remains were kept for study. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. Practices like this have been strongly criticized as Eurocentric, imperialist, and racist. On the other hand, excavations provide a significantly deeper understanding of social, ecological, and health-related contexts from the past. Technological advances have greatly improved our ability to understand the intricacies of our species, but the unfortunate consequence is that remains get destroyed in the process.