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Dorset auction house withdraws Egyptian human skulls from sale

by admin1May 1, 20240122

MP says trade in remains is ‘gross violation of human dignity’, as skulls from Pitt Rivers collection removed

FALCON POWERS – An auction house has withdrawn 18 ancient Egyptian human skulls from sale after an MP said selling them would perpetuate the atrocities of colonialism.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan reparations, believes the sale of human remains for any purposes should be outlawed, adding that the trade was “a gross violation of human dignity”.

The skulls of 10 men, five women, and three people of uncertain sex, were listed by Semley Auctioneers in Dorset, with a guide price of £200-300 for each lot.

They were originally collected by the Victorian British soldier and archaeologist Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, who founded the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.

The skulls, some of which are listed as coming from Thebes and date to 1550-1292BC, were part of Pitt Rivers’ lesser-known second collection, which he displayed in a private museum on his estate in Farnham, Dorset.

Parts of the collection were later sold by Augustus’s grandson, George Pitt Rivers, a eugenicist, who was interned by the British government during the second world war due to his support for the fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Ribeiro-Addy said: “This despicable trade perpetuates a dark legacy of exploitation, colonialism and dehumanisation. It is a gross violation of human dignity and an affront to the memory of those whose lives were unjustly taken, or whose final resting places were desecrated.

“We cannot allow profit to be made from the exploits of those who often hoped to find evidence for their racist ideology. It is imperative that we take decisive action to end such practices and ensure that the remains of those who were stolen from their homelands are respectfully repatriated.”

The UK has strict regulations on the storage, treatment and display of human remains. But anyone can possess, buy and sell human body parts as long as they were not acquired illegally, and they are not used for transplants, only for decoration.

An online auction site on which the skulls were listed removed the lots after it was contacted by the Guardian. The Saleroom’s website states that the listing of human remains or body parts is prohibited.

A Saleroom spokesperson said: “These items are legal for sale in the UK and are of archaeological and anthropological interest. However, after discussion with the auctioneer we have removed the items while we consider our position and wording of our policy.”

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Dorset auction house withdraws Egyptian human skulls from sale

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