Etched in Bone, produced and directed by Dr Martin Thomas and Dr Beatrice Bijon from the Australian National University, is a Documentary that follows the journey of the most recent and disgraceful case in cultural theft. Back in 1948, during an American/Australian scientific expedition, a skull and jaw belonging to an ancestor, were stolen from one of the […]
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This year marks the 70th anniversary of a American archaeological expedition to Arnhem Land. The group took with them hundreds of human bones and sacred artwork back across the Pacific, displaying their at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The bones were returned over 60 years later. Now a film has documented the journey of a small Indigenous community […]
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Grave robbing is the notorious practice of raiding burial grounds for items to sell on the black market. It’s not the label typically applied to archaeologists, who often encounter ransacked graves themselves during expeditions. The Australian documentary Etched In Bone has exposed the great American-Australian Scientific Expedition of 1948 to the harsh light of the […]
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The theft of human remains from western Arnhem Land was done in the name of science. But the true story involved a lot of subterfuge and sinister intentions toward indigenous Australians. The film Etched in Bone documents the journey of aboriginal human remains from Arnhem Land to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Martin Thomas and Beatrice Bijon spoke […]
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Early next month when the documentary film, Etched in Bone, is screened for the small west Arnhem Land Aboriginal settlement of Gunbalanya it will be almost seven decades to the day since an expedition of American and Australian scientists stole the remains of community elders and dispatched them to Washington. The film, produced by historian/writers […]
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