Human bones as symbols of power: aboriginal American belief systems toward bones and ‘grave-robbing’ archaeologists

During the past ten years there has been an increasing concern on the part of religious fundamentalist and aboriginal peoples worldwide about the treatment of human skeletons they believe to be from their ancestors. Many have used the bones as an underpinning for political activism, contending that control of the bones by others is simply another form of exploitation. For them the bones have been used in land claims cases and to focus media attention. For others, the concern is strictly a religious one, where the rights of the dead-the ancestors, to many-are at stake. Disturbance or possession of the bones by ‘non-believers’ is desecration. Whatever the reason, human bones have become symbols of power, both spiritual and political.