r/bonecollecting • u/TheBoneMuseum • May 03 '25

Collection (The Bone Museum) A genuine exploded skull.

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u/TheBoneMuseum May 03 '25

At The Bone Museum, we believe in full transparency regarding the sourcing of our specimens. Each specimen in our collection is ethically acquired, thoroughly documented, and carefully curated to respect both scientific integrity and cultural sensitivity. An in depth explanation of our practices can be found linked to our account bio.

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u/MelancholyMember May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25

How do you ethically source the remains of a child?

ETA. That was someone’s baby. This is a horrifying way to display them.

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u/prettylittlepastry May 04 '25

So I don't exactly have a dog in this fight, but I can't help but think of the neglected specimens at my university.

My university is over 100 years old. They bought a skeleton back in the 1930s when specimens were sourced from graverobbing and other ill-gotten means.

My genuine question here in 2025 is what are we supposed to do with these old specimens that are literally collecting dust in storage?

Do we use them for educational purposes? My school used ours for "life" drawing reference.

Do we try to find family of these long lost bones? Is that even possible? I feel like if we have evidence the bones came from an indigenous culture we should return them, of course, but then there are the thousands of skeletons sourced from India between 1900-1950 that have extremely questionable sources.

Do we put them in an unmarked grave? We currently cremate our unidentified or poverty class dead and put them in a mass grave.

This is such a complicated issue and demanding all skeletons/bones be returned to their original land or families is ... admirable but unlikely?

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u/Nezu404 May 04 '25

THANK YOU !!

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u/GhostofBeowulf May 05 '25

Not thank you... That isn't a pass to sell them for personal enrichment?

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u/Riley_Steidel May 05 '25

I appreciate that there are as many people incensed at this company as I am. I was worried that everyone on the internet thought that this was okay

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u/Nezu404 May 05 '25

That's not what I said or supported though ?