The mainly nameless and faceless dead: an exploratory study of the illicit traffic in archaeological and ethnographic human remains

This paper represents an exploratory study of what is known about the current global trade in human remains, and in particular, specimens from archaeological or ethnographic contexts, regardless of which source countries they derive from and where they are destined. The paper is in four parts. In Pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Crime, law, and social change law, and social change, 2014-09, Vol.62 (2), p.131-153
Main Authors: Huffer, Damien, Chappell, Duncan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amazon
Archaeological artifacts
Archaeological sites
Archaeology
Black markets
Burial
Burials
Criminal investigations
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law
Criminology
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Cultural heritage
Cultural property
eBay Inc
Ethics
Ethnographic research
Ethnography
Forensic anthropology
Google, Inc
Historic artifacts
Human remains
International
International Trade
Internet
Law
Law and Criminology
Law enforcement
Law Reform
Legal reform
Looting
Medieval period
Museums
Native peoples
Political Science
Prejudice
Reform
Repatriation
Search Engines
Smuggling
Social Sciences
Studies
Traffic
Yahoo! Inc
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Summary:This paper represents an exploratory study of what is known about the current global trade in human remains, and in particular, specimens from archaeological or ethnographic contexts, regardless of which source countries they derive from and where they are destined. The paper is in four parts. In Part 1, we explain how the analysis of human remains forms an important component of archaeological research, and why looting activity at burial sites prejudice this research. In Part 2 we review the existing and relevant archaeological, ethnographic and criminological literature on the subject while in Part 3 we describe our own research into the online trade in human remains, both licit and illicit. To assess the current global prevalence and distribution of public and private dealers in human remains, keyword searches on common search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing), and online sites like eBay and Amazon were conducted. In Part 4 we draw some conclusions about our research and point in particular to various policy and law reform issues which require further consideration and study.
ISSN:0925-4994
1573-0751
DOI:10.1007/s10611-014-9528-4