Bone Collectors: Personhood and Appeal in Human Remains Sales on Facebook

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Human Remains in the Marketplace and Beyond: Myths and Realities of Monitoring, Grappling With, and Anthropologizing the Illicit Trade in a Post-Harvard World" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The desire to own human skeletal remains has been prevalent for many years; in our modern technological age avenues for this market have exploded across the internet. This research focuses on Facebook groups dedicated to oddity sales and collecting. Purchasing human remains is illegal in Georgia, Louisiana, and Tennessee as well as prohibited by Facebook terms of service, but these sales persist. During 2021, 319 listings for human skeletal remains were recorded across six Facebook groups. Many elements are artistic in nature, something viewed as “Giving a second life” to the remains, as observed within these groups. To understand the driving force behind this market requires cultural insight about the perception of human remains as well as the culture found within these groups. Kinship, friendship, and trust are all clearly expressed between buyers and sellers. Human skeletal remains often come from dubious origins, including that of grave robbing, exploitation, and co-opting of unclaimed remains. Despite this, the desire to own them is prevalent on Facebook. The view of personhood within these groups is clear: these skeletal remains are objects to be treated as such by individuals who purchase them.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Human Remains in the Marketplace and Beyond: Myths and Realities of Monitoring, Grappling With, and Anthropologizing the Illicit Trade in a Post-Harvard World

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38350.0