The Bone Trade Flourishes On Instagram and Facebook

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There is a thriving online trade in human skeletal remains of actual or alleged archaeological, ethnographic, historical or recent anatomical origin. The trade-in authentic archaeological and/or ethnographic items are typically collected against the wishes of descent communities concerned. As a result of recent attempts to ban the sale of human remains on eBay and Etsy, this grisly trade has consolidated on social media platforms. The bone trade flourishes on Instagram and Facebook, operating inside several public and closed groups, and an unknown number of “secret” groups, as well as on certain international e-commerce platforms.

Although not all human remains trafficking is illegal, ACCO experts monitoring U.S. social media platforms have recorded evidence of the illegal import, export and advertised sale of recently buried remains, items of Indigenous cultural heritage made from human remains, and other clear violations of the law.

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Articles

Towards a Method for Discerning Sources of Supply within the Human Remains Trade via Patterns of Visual Dissimilarity and Computer Vision

While bone traders are quick to point out that ‘buying human skulls is legal’, the trading in Indigenous remains is not. In this report, ACCO researchers develop machine learning techniques for identifying the geographic ancestry of human remains advertised on social media to better identify illegal trading.

The Mainly Nameless and Faceless Dead: An Exploratory Study of the Illicit Traffic in Archaeological and Ethnographic Human Remains

This paper by Damien Huffer studies the current global trade in human remains, in particular those from archaeological or ethnographic contexts, through keyword searches on common search engines and e-commerce sites. Read the report.

Political Candidate Blasted For Giving Boyfriend Human Skull As Birthday Present

A woman running in this year's federal Canadian election has been slammed for giving her boyfriend a human skull from the 1700s as a birthday gift. The gift is particularly controversial because of a widespread historical failure to properly repatriate Indigenous remains. Read the Newsweek article.

Ah, I See You Have A Policy: A Screenshot Essay on the Trade in Human Remains

From Shawn Graham’s blog, Electric Archaeology, pointing out the discrepancies between Big Tech’s polices towards human remains and their actions. Read the article.

Why We Should Not be Trading Human Bones on Instagram

We shouldn’t need a law explicitly declaring “No one can own dead people,” though perhaps that would help. We need enforcement of the laws that we do have. Read the article.

Guest UserApril 4, 2021bone-trade