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Why is it not grave robbery to take artefacts from ancient graves and put them in a museum? (feddit.org)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As I was reading about the Valley of the Kings again, I wonder why that was actually legal.

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[–] MrsDoyle 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

In the National Museum of Scotland there's a bronze-age skeleton curled up in a recreation of the person's grave, surrounded by their grave goods. While I was stood looking at it, a woman was explaining to her granddaughter that the skeleton had been found in Shetland, where she herself was from. The girl turned to her and said, "Was he a friend of yours, granny?" We all laughed, but I think we all had the same uncomfortable thought - this wasn't just dry bones, it was a person. What if it was a friend of granny's? What amount of time makes it ok?

Looking at this body in the British Museum was even worse: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28589151

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Being born in the same town means there is a high chance of it being a relative of the girl and her grandmother.

[–] MrsDoyle 1 points 3 weeks ago

Shetland is an archipelago, but ok. Historically populations in the Scottish islands moved around a lot more than you would think. Sick of the tiny village you grew up in? Hop in a boat and go to Orkney, or Skye, or Lewis. Travel by land was difficult, by sea was comparatively easier. There was also a lot of incomer traffic, from Ireland, Scandinavia, even the Baltic. So yes, there might have been a tiny fraction of genetic connection, but unlikely to be significant.