Tasmanians to fight UK universities over ancestors' bones
LONDON -- Tasmanian Aborigines are preparing to take on Britain's two most famous universities and a national museum as they continue a fight to bring their ancestors' remains home for burial.
Representatives of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Greg Brown and Caroline Spotswood, arrived in London yesterday to mediate with the Natural History Museum in London, to stop it scientifically testing the remains of 13 Tasmanian Aborigines before they are returned to Tasmania after 200 years. These tests include drilling into bones and teeth to extract DNA and making plaster casts of teeth and jaws.
"Testing is culturally offensive to us; we see that for us to lay our old fellas and their spirits to rest we need to bring them back intact without this experimentation," Mr Brown said.
Read entire article at Sydney Morning Herald
Representatives of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Greg Brown and Caroline Spotswood, arrived in London yesterday to mediate with the Natural History Museum in London, to stop it scientifically testing the remains of 13 Tasmanian Aborigines before they are returned to Tasmania after 200 years. These tests include drilling into bones and teeth to extract DNA and making plaster casts of teeth and jaws.
"Testing is culturally offensive to us; we see that for us to lay our old fellas and their spirits to rest we need to bring them back intact without this experimentation," Mr Brown said.