Post by Kiwi Frontline on May 19, 2017 18:07:04 GMT 12
NORTHLAND HISTORIAN ADMITS GRAVE-ROBBING MAORI BURIALS
A New Zealand historian has been accused of grave-robbing after admitting to taking Māori skulls from grave sites.
Noel Hilliam told the Northern Advocate he had found skulls that pre-date Māori. He then sent human remains overseas for forensic examination and facial reconstruction.
However Mr Hilliam's research has been condemned as wrong.
"The statement that the young adult woman is from Wales is ludicrous. There is no way to find that information out from the skull size and shape, nor is it possible to tell that a person has blue eyes and blonde hair from skeletal features," University of Otago bio-archaeologist Dr Siân Halcrow told Vice.
Worse, his actions have been condemned as racist and illegal.
"It is the violation of a sacred site. Them raiding urupā and acquiring ancestral heads - they haven't said where from - makes me really concerned," Auckland University senior lecturer Dr Ngarino Gabriel Ellis told Vice....
www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/05/northland-historian-admits-grave-robbing-maori-burials.html
A New Zealand historian has been accused of grave-robbing after admitting to taking Māori skulls from grave sites.
Noel Hilliam told the Northern Advocate he had found skulls that pre-date Māori. He then sent human remains overseas for forensic examination and facial reconstruction.
However Mr Hilliam's research has been condemned as wrong.
"The statement that the young adult woman is from Wales is ludicrous. There is no way to find that information out from the skull size and shape, nor is it possible to tell that a person has blue eyes and blonde hair from skeletal features," University of Otago bio-archaeologist Dr Siân Halcrow told Vice.
Worse, his actions have been condemned as racist and illegal.
"It is the violation of a sacred site. Them raiding urupā and acquiring ancestral heads - they haven't said where from - makes me really concerned," Auckland University senior lecturer Dr Ngarino Gabriel Ellis told Vice....
www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/05/northland-historian-admits-grave-robbing-maori-burials.html