The Reacquiring of Ancient Cambodian Artifacts and the Ethics behind it

The Reacquiring of Ancient Cambodian Artifacts and the Ethics behind it

 

     More often than not, when you go about buying something off eBay things can get kind of sketchy, however in this case the findings were a little more than sketchy. Southeast Asian archeologist Damien Huffer was sent a catalog in 2010 of ancient Cambodian artifacts, each priced at a few thousand dollars and some still containing human remains. The fact that these artifacts appeared to be just plucked off of skeletons makes it obvious that they were looted. Huffer, being a man of science, proceeded to break the news on his blog on what he had found. From here he was then contacted by members of the Cultural Property division of the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage, and the Arts. Together, they brought down the seller of the artifacts. They were then sent back to Cambodia where Huffer and his colleagues viewed the ceremony.

     Though the pieces are all back and comfortable in their native land, one can not go without asking themselves were these pieces looted in vain of their true owners, the ancient Cambodians? These artifacts were taken off of ancient corpses making them pieces of a bigger puzzle so to speak. The rest of the remains these belong to will never be found, making it a priceless loss. 

     I personally believe that it is very sad and even shocking that people would go to the extent to essentially grave rob an entire ancient culture all for the sake of money. Tell me your opinion on this in the comments section.

-Ben Hall

http://www.savingantiquities.org/bringing-them-home-the-repatriation-of-priceless-human-remains-and-artifacts-to-cambodia/