Hello and welcome to the beginning of my long journey! I would like to start by introducing myself and my topic. My name is Cassidy Ohol and I am a third year Museum Studies major with a minor in Archaeology. I grew up around Niagara Falls, New York and always had a deep appreciation and fascination for history. If I'm being so completely honest with you, Indiana Jones definitely had more than a little to do with why I chose this career path.
For my thesis, I wasn't quite sure what to do, but I thought back to my summer internship abroad in Genova, Italy and I thought about everything I saw. The cities and museums are filled with such history and beautifully designed architecture, it was like stepping into a new world. One memory that stood out was my trip to the Museo Egizio in Torino. In English, this translates to Egypt Museum and it is known to be the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in the world. Everything was fascinating and there was so much to see! There was an unsettling factor that I could not get over however, and it was the fact that so many human remains were on display, some being those of children. I further learned that some of the mummified remains were not even placed with the sarcophagus they were buried in. This made me very uncomfortable and I felt like Ancient Egyptian funerary practices and traditions weren't being respected.
After researching, I found out more about human remain curation and controversies surrounding it such as the ethics and issues of consent. This also led to me learning about NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. This act allows funerary items, remains, and more that are being displayed or kept in storage at institutions and museums to be returned to their original native cultures. Recently revamped, this act has allowed for more understanding and cultural respect on sensitive issues. The aim of my thesis is to explore the evolution of NAGPRA and how it has changed along with the improving guidelines on human remain curation.
I hope all who read this find it interesting and follow along with me on this journey!
Goodbye for now,
Cass
Photo by me at Museo Egizio
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