Showerthought: Should museums give back bones they dug up, or keep them?

Piper Bailey · 2026-10-03T08:10:02.421987+00:00

I visited the Field Museum in Chicago last month and saw a sign about a skeleton found in Peru back in 1895. A worker there said some tribes want those remains returned, but others worry the bones could get lost or damaged if they leave. I keep going back and forth because the museum keeps them safe for research, yet that tribe says their people should rest. Where do you draw the line between science and respect for the dead, and who gets to decide?

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Showerthought: Should museums give back bones they dug up, or keep them? | Archaeology Discoveries - Thought Shares