Who Owns the Dead? Fossils, Human Remains & the Law

Описание: Who owns human remains and fossils and who decides?

In this episode of The Resurrectionists, we examine the legal and ethical debates surrounding fossils, human remains, and cultural heritage with legal researcher Paul Stewens. From blood amber mined in war zones to hominin fossils held in European museums, we explore how law, science, colonialism, and ethics collide.

We discuss fossil ownership, repatriation, and museum responsibility, unpacking cases such as Myanmar amber, Brazilian dinosaur fossils, Java Man, and the Broken Hill skull. This episode asks who truly owns the past — and what ethical archaeology and paleontology should look like moving forward.

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Guest Info
Website: https://paul-stewens.com

Resources
Ben G Thomas. A Tiny Dinosaur Head Has Been Found in Amber - But At What Cost?.    • A Tiny Dinosaur Head Has Been Found in Amb...  .
Black et al. Hominin Heritage: How Institutional Repositories Are Managing Collections, Collaboration and Repatriation. South African Journal of Science 121 (1/2). https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2025/18569. 2025.
Champney et al. Human, Animal, or Mineral? Ethical Considerations for Studies of Fossilized Hominin Remains. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 187(3), https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70085. 2025.
Cisneros et al. Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil. Royal Society Open Science, 9(3), 10.1098/rsos.210898, 2022.
Discussion about the return of the Broken Hill skull before the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation.    • Twenty-fourth Session of the ICPRCP  .
Dunne et al. Ethics, law, and politics in palaeontological research: The case of Myanmar amber. Communications Biology, 5(1), 10.1038/s42003-022-03847-2, 2022.
Joannes-Boyau et al. ‘Owning Humankind: Fossils, Humans and Archaeological Remains’. Heliyon 6 (6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.202.... 2020.
Musonda, P. Decolonising the Broken Hill Skull: Cultural Loss and a Pathway to Zambian Archaeological Sovereignty. African Archaeological Review, 10.1007/s10437-013-9134-3. 2013.
Raja et al. Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6, 10.1038/s41559-021-01608-8, 2022.
Sarr, F., & Savoy, B. The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage. Toward a New Relational Ethics. PDF, 2018.
Stewens, P. P. Burmese Amber: Palaeontology’s Blood Diamonds Through the Lens of International Law. Völkerrechtsblog, 2021.
Stewens et al. The Return of Fossils Removed Under Colonial Rule. Santander Art and Culture Law Review 8(2), https://doi.org/10.4467/2450050XSNR.2.... 2022.
Stewens, P. P. 'Ubirajara' and Irritator Belong to Brazil: Achieving Fossil Returns Under German Private Law. International Journal of Cultural Property 30(3), https://doi.org/10.1017/S094073912400003, 2023.
UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The economic interests of the Myanmar military: Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (A/HRC/42/CRP.3). ReliefWeb, 2019.

Music
Danse Macabre by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/