House of 500 Corpses: FBI Raid of Illegal Artifact Collector's Home Uncovers 2,000 Human Bones in Private Museum

2/28/2019

Don Miller filled his Indiana home with parts of around 500 corpses, nearly all belonging to Native Americans, representing a total of more than 2,000 bones. However, because the bones were ensconced in a homemade amateur museum of 42,000 artifacts, half of which were pre-Columbian, and most of which had been obtained illegally, the media considered the morbid piles of human remains to be little more than a curiosity. The CBS News report documenting the FBI’s raid on Miller’s home literally placed the 2,000 bones halfway down the article, having written that the FBI considered the museum itself to be the most surprising part of their investigation, which was handled by the “art crime” unit.

Apparently, a house of 1,000 corpses is a horror movie, but one with 500 is “art” so long as they are old, or, more importantly, not white. Imagine if Miller had had 500 white bodies. CBS would have led with grave-robbing rather than how charming and kooky Miller was.

The FBI raided Miller’s house in 2014 but did not publicly reveal the existence of the museum, the extent of Miller’s illegal collections, or the thousands of bones in the house until this week.

According to CBS News corresponded Anna Werner, Miller, who died in 2015, admitted to knowingly collecting the bones and artifacts in violation of antiquities laws during decades of illegal digs at sites around the world. As part of a settlement with the government, Miller surrendered 5,000 of his 42,000 artifacts and all the bones.

But the way that the discussion of the bones was framed was telling. The bones were relegated to the end of the article, of less implied importance than earlier discussions of Miller’s “charisma” and his lavish collections of global treasures. Consider this exchange between Werner and Tim Carpenter, the head of the FBI’s art crime unit:

"To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings." Nearly all of those human remains, he said, were also dug up from ancient Native American burial sites. "It's very staggering," Carpenter said.

"Why would anybody have that many human bones?" Werner asked.

"I don't know. I truly don't know," Carpenter said.

Werner seems to imply that there is a correct number of human bones that it is normal to keep in your house. I wonder what that number is.

But the good news is that Werner understood that there is more to collecting parts of hundreds of corpses in your basement than just eccentricity. There is also the fact that Miller collected only one type of corpse: Native American:

"This comes down to a basic human right," said Holly Cusack-McVeigh, a professor of archaeology brought in by the FBI on the Miller case. "We have to think about the context of: Who has been the target of grave robbing for centuries? Whose ancestors have been collected for hobby?" Cusack-McVeigh said. "And this comes down to racism. They aren't digging white graves."

Experts determined the remains found at Miller's residence likely came from Native American tribes including the Arikara. In North Dakota, tribal official Pete Coffey is working with the FBI to bring them home.

"All too often here we have been treated as curiosities rather than a people here," Coffey said. "They could very well be my own great, great, great, great grandfather, or grandmother, you know, that had been – I characterize it as being ripped out of the earth, you know."

This important material really should have been placed at the top of the report, framing Miller as a racist grave-robber rather than a harmless eccentric who accidentally committed large-scale grave-robbing and then redeemed himself by feeling sorry after he got caught.

According to CBS, the FBI has returned a few of the bones to tribes in South Dakota but five years on, the majority of the bones will only be repatriated this spring.

It’s kind of weird, though, that when bones are old enough they become an “art crime,” as though age gradually strips the humanity from them.

64 Comments

Javy Lopez

2/28/2019 08:47:41 am

I think it's morbid and gruesome, but I don't really see the "racist" part; "digging for antiquities" has always been a pseudonym for "grave robbing"; one goes with the other; if the tomb is considered to be full of "ancient treasure" then the "collectors" (or "robbers") will dig it up, and the human remains along with them. It's no different than all the mummies "collected" and displayed in Egyptian exhibits around the world. Or, for that matter, the "human bone fragments" the chuckleheads on "curse of oak island" claim they found, and duly displayed in their "finds of last year" exhibit - and those remains are supposedly from "white" people.
Seems to me he dug up Indian remains because he was digging for Indian artifacts; not because of some racist ideology.
Like I said; it's morbid, and gruesome, and disrespectful, and I wouldn't do it, but I don't see it as inherently "racist".

Machala

2/28/2019 11:14:36 am

Mr. Lopez,
I concur with your observation. I don't believe that the grave robbing was inherently racist - perverse, ignorant, and disrespectful, but not racist.
The majority of artifact hunters are motivated by greed. The pot hunters and grave robbers are looking for valuable artifacts that they can sell to collectors.
Unfortunately, in my long life - much of it spent in the Southwest U.S.and in South America, I have had had run-ins with far too many of these types. If you consider a blatant disregard for the cultural heritage indigenous people and the utter disdain for preserving archaeological relics "in-situ" as being racist, than perhaps I would agree but would argue that the underlying motive was still greed.

Joe Scales

2/28/2019 11:32:05 am

The racism as decried in the article was alleged due to the belief that the perp was only desecrating the bones of Native Americans; even though the article also points out that not all the bones were seemingly taken from Native American burial sites. Of course it could be more an issue of opportunity and desire to find Native American artifacts rather than blatant racism.

Rackham

2/28/2019 01:26:06 pm

Well, only to voice my agreement with the three previous comments. In this case, it is quite clear Miller operated on many motivations including greed, interest in ancient artefact, a weird sense on curiosity and a taste for the morbid. All that done with destructive and unethical methods. However, having no ethics doesn't equate to being racist. I sincerely believe Mr Colavito should take great care before branding everybody a racist for fear of diluting this word's impact when really required, particularly in regard with the fringe. Don't go down the Boy who cried wolf road, it would hit your credibility as a skeptic.

JIm

2/28/2019 01:27:36 pm

." Nearly all of those human remains, he said, were also dug up from ancient Native American burial sites. "It's very staggering"

Joe:
" Of course it could be more an issue of opportunity and desire to find Native American artifacts rather than blatant racism."

The Nazis working in concentration camps weren't racist, just murderers, they murdered mostly Jews because that's mainly who they had to work with.
Ya that's the ticket.

2/28/2019 02:15:15 pm

Well Jim, considering it's debatable whether or not being Jewish is a race and not a religion, you're on shaky ground to begin with. Then there's the Nazi card in there as well, for your appeal to emotion. But as far as digging up injuns goes, as opposed to digging up white people, we already know about the white people and how they lived. I suppose however, if they knew a white guy who was buried with his gold bullion, well... racism be damned.

Joe

2/28/2019 02:31:43 pm

Joe:
Let me put it this way, many of the same white people who have no compunction toward digging up Native American graves would probably balk at digging up a graveyard that contains Caucasian remains.
I can't claim to know Millers mind, but (legalities notwithstanding) I would bet dollars to donuts that he would have considered it wrong to dig up Caucasians remains in the same way.
That is racism.

Jim

2/28/2019 02:33:33 pm

Oops, the post above is mine.
Sorry Joe I pulled a Wolter.

2/28/2019 04:41:55 pm

Part of the racism is the article itself--the fact that it treats these human remains as not being that important. If this guy had collected these remains from, say, Colonial-era graveyards, or from sites in Europe, there would most likely have been a HUGE outcry about it. So the racism wasn't just about "these are where the bones came from," but in the dehumanization of the remains in favor of talking about the white guy who collected them.

Also, I DO consider a blatant disregard for the cultural heritage of indigenous people racist. Because, you know, it is. And greed can absolutely BE racist, you know. When it focuses on looting a particular race this way, and disregards the humanity of that race the way this guy did, it's racist greed. There are hundreds of Colonial-era European graves he could have robbed for goods, and many of them are known to be not AT ALL far from Native American sides--and just as unprotected--so if pure greed was his ONLY motivation, well, early settlers had jewelry and other goods that have monetary value in today's market, too. Since he had clear opportunity to do so and didn't, it's almost impossible NOT to assume racism.

Accumulated Wisdom

2/28/2019 04:53:41 pm

White people already have their example. Ed Gein. The only result is a horror movie franchise.

This dude makes Gein look tame by comparison.

2/28/2019 05:06:46 pm

It's not as if greed drove the slave trade,, er, wait,,,ya it did.

2/28/2019 05:15:06 pm

"I can't claim to know Millers mind, but (legalities notwithstanding) I would bet dollars to donuts that he would have considered it wrong to dig up Caucasians remains in the same way."

Well, as per the article, not all the bones were from Native American burial grounds. So perhaps he was an equal opportunity offender.

An Anonymous Nerd

2/28/2019 09:28:16 pm

From Mr. Sacles: "Well, as per the article, not all the bones were from Native American burial grounds. So perhaps he was an equal opportunity offender. "

From the article: 'Nearly all of those human remains, he [Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI's art crime unit] said, were also dug up from ancient Native American burial sites. "It's very staggering," Carpenter said.'

There is no way to read the article and get "equal opportunity offender."

-An Anonymous Nerd

Butthurt by Bones

2/28/2019 09:47:58 pm

"ACCUMULATED WISDOM
2/28/2019 04:53:41 pm
White people already have their example. Ed Gein. The only result is a horror movie franchise.

This dude makes Gein look tame by comparison."

In addition to being at least a double murderer, Gein made face masks out of vulvas. I'm going to pull a Joe Scales and call you an imbecile. Seek help.

Searching the house, authorities found:[28]

Whole human bones and fragments[29]
A wastebasket made of human skin[30]
Human skin covering several chair seats[31]
Skulls on his bedposts[32]
Female skulls, some with the tops sawn off[33][31][30]
Bowls made from human skulls[30]
A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist[31]
Leggings made from human leg skin[30]
Masks made from the skin of female heads[33][31][32]
Mary Hogan's face mask in a paper bag[32]
Mary Hogan's skull in a box[34]
Bernice Worden's entire head in a burlap sack[35]
Bernice Worden's heart "in a plastic bag in front of Gein's potbellied stove"[36]
Nine vulvae in a shoe box[37]
A young girl's dress and "the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old"[38]
A belt made from female human nipples[39]
Four noses[28]
A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring[28]
A lampshade made from the skin of a human face[28]
Fingernails from female fingers

2/28/2019 10:53:20 pm

Thanks for proving my point, dan. That list is small by comparison. Gein dug up most of his material too.

I'm good. My mother had me tested.

3/1/2019 03:17:42 am

Anthony, you're the best!

"I wasn't diggin up bones Officer! I'm just cuttiing vulvas out of dead bodies. Would you like to see my human skin corset or the mask I made out of my mother's face?"

Because you are so clueless I can imagine you saying that.

According to you, a guy who stole, raided, or ransacked a bunch of bones is worse than someone who cut vulvas out of human corpses, made a mask from his mother's face as part of the process of making an entire suit from her skin,

"A Waushara County Sheriff's deputy discovered Worden's decapitated body in a shed on Gein's property, hung upside down by her legs with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists. The torso was "dressed out like a deer". She had been shot with a .22-caliber rifle, and the mutilations were made after her death."

"A young girl's dress and "the vulvas of two females judged to have been about fifteen years old
A belt made from female human nipples
Four noses"

If you think 2000 Bones Guy is worse than THAT, you really need treatment. John Walsh should be looking for you. Fifteen year old vulvas. A belt made of nipples. But someone with a bunch of bones is worse in your view.

Butthurt by bones

3/1/2019 04:12:24 am

Forgot to mention that Gein committed two murders that we know of, so according to Anthony Warren:

A bone collecter/stealer is WORSE THAN A DOUBLE MURDERER. Puts me in mind of a poster who called Anthony a "mental patient" but I'm more worried that he's not. He should certainly be in care.

3/1/2019 11:29:46 am

Uretha Hurt dan,

500 dug up "Native" corpses stored at home, as opposed to less than 20 dug up white corpses used as Folk Art.

Gein- less than 20 bodies= Monster
Miller- 500 bodies= Quirky Collector

3/1/2019 12:51:11 pm

If you don't see the difference between cutting up bodies and doing arts and crafts with human meat vs. digging up Indian bones you really do need help.

"A Waushara County Sheriff's deputy discovered Worden's decapitated body in a shed on Gein's property, hung upside down by her legs with a crossbar at her ankles and ropes at her wrists. The torso was "dressed out like a deer"."

You're saying this is better than digging up bones. You're saying murdering at least two people is better than digging up bones.

Seek treatment.

3/1/2019 01:19:00 pm

dan,

The only comparison was number of bodies dug up, and kept in the home.

Comparing my description to your description... You're trying to convince the wrong person to seek help.

Go put some lotion on your skin.

Dr. Joel Fischer

3/3/2019 05:44:41 pm

The most blatant part of the whole story is that
Miller is a racist. He only robs graves of native people; he never robs graves of white people. Just imagine him going to your local cemetery and digging up the oldest graves. Ain't gonna happen.
But because he has no respect for indigenous people, he is perfectly happy robbing those graves which indigenous people consider sacred.

Bert & Ernie

2/28/2019 09:24:48 am

Mister Colavito, I am beginning to wonder about your reading and listening ability. One of the priorities after the discovery of the artifacts and bones has been the returning of them to their states, countries and responsible officials who were determined to be their actual owners. You seem to have neglected that fact. This is something that cannot be accomplished overnight. It takes time and research of the bones and artifacts to determine their place or origin.

William Fitzgerald

2/28/2019 09:28:49 am

Stretching credulity a bit here. The guy is abnormal and a criminal. Maybe he is also racist, I really wouldn't be surprised given his odd proclivity. Maybe too the coverage is racially tinged or maybe just insensitive, but this is less obvious to me based on the tidbits of coverage you provided.

Maybe I am not attuned to see everything as potentially - read probably - racist. But, I don't think everyone needs to bend over backwards and walk on egg shells, if I may mix metaphors, to preemptively avoid racial sensitivities. Being cognizant of sensitivities is important, but sometimes I think it is taken too far.

It's one thing to be offended, its another to take something out of context or read into motives, that are simply not there, in order to advance an agenda. I think the concept of snowflakes is often a bit dismissive, but sometimes it fits; and if you ever wonder how Trump got elected, it's in no small part these kinds of overblown wolf-cries (being a little sarcastic and oversimplifying here, but probably not by much).

Jason Colavito link

2/28/2019 09:47:58 am

You realize that the article itself featured commentary from the FBI's own archaeology expert, Holly Cusack-McVeigh, stating that robbing Native American graves is a racist act. I didn't make it up. If Miller had been digging up colonial Euro-American graves to display in his home, there would be much more outrage and it would have been the very first sentence of the report.

2/28/2019 05:09:26 pm

Yes I do realize an FBI employee has an opinion; and one I am not entirely at odds with. I've conceded the guy is probably racist, given the focus of his hoby.

What I have a problem with is the reading into the coverage and assuming racist motives. You claim a double standard exists because of inherent racism. Maybe, but my point is: it is not as clear as you argue.

Perhaps you view the world different and assume racial morives until proven otherwise, or its a symptom of the topics you often deal with that has colored your insight (and I wouldn't nessecarily disagree on this point in many instances), or both (or neither). But, sometimes you need to gain a little perspective and not jump in assuming.

Paul

2/28/2019 10:40:48 am

The bones and racism, that is one bone of contention no doubt. The laws have changed a great deal in this man's lifetime. Another question begs the effectiveness of customs, both in the US and abroad. How many artifacts of both monetary and cultural value were brought openly through customs, but apparently, not once was this man detained or significantly questioned. Amazing.

2/28/2019 11:53:41 am

2000 bones. 500 people. 4 bones per person. 4 bones is not a corpse. There are no corpses here officer! What about the Tibetans who use human thigh bones for trumpets and drink out of skull cups and the shamans who wear clothing made out of bone? What about every Catholic church? Ever heard of relics?

Pol Pot. That was a guy who liked bones.

Are human bones intrinsically more special than animal bones?

"Waiter, there's a tempest in my teacup!"

Doc Rock

2/28/2019 01:56:20 pm

Bit of a difference between intragroup use of human bones in contexts deemed sacred and some guy from Indiana collecting bones as a hobby.

Sounds somewhat like arguing that a sip of communion wine is the equivalent of an Indiana University frat boy slugging down a half-gallon of Mogan David 20/20

2/28/2019 07:33:11 pm

No, there is no difference. That's the point.

2/28/2019 08:02:24 pm

Of course there is a big difference. On one hand in the Vatican we see the remains of Popes in glass boxes that are revered with prayers spoken over them. On the other hand we see twats like Marzulli using remains bought from grave robbers to do asinine and unscientific tests on to try and prove the existence of the Nephilim.
If you can't see the difference I don't know what to say.

2/28/2019 09:58:56 pm

So we'll just ignore the bones and body parts of saints in various Catholic churches?

2/28/2019 11:42:02 pm

Of course there is a big difference. On one hand we have holy relics in churches that are respected, cherished and would never be sold for any dollar amount and in the Vatican we see the remains of Popes in glass boxes that are revered with prayers spoken over them. On the other hand we see twats like Marzulli using remains bought from grave robbers to do asinine and unscientific tests on to try and prove the existence of the Nephilim to con the gullible out of their money.
If you can't see the difference I don't know what to say.

3/1/2019 02:52:28 am

@Jim: You think relics were never sold?

3/1/2019 10:41:41 am

So, you are playing a game of silly bugger are you ? Last response.

"Code of Canon Law 1190 states that it is “absolutely forbidden to sell sacred relics,” whether or not they are human remains."
"Simony is a sacrilegious practice that consists in buying and selling what is spiritual (relics) in return for what is temporal (money). "

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/sale-of-saint-relics-on-ebay-sparks-catholic-outcry-38519

Perhaps you could link us to some examples of the Catholic church selling human remains as relics ?
Or better yet you could go to the Vatican and offer to buy Pope Innocent IX, see how far you get.

3/1/2019 01:01:14 pm

The question still stands. Are you going to tell me that relics were not sold? Feel free to do so.

Canon Law forbids a lot of things that still happen or happened. There are two possibilities: Canon Law forbids pederasty or is silent on it. Nonetheless Catholic priests continue to bugger boys. Canon Law is irrelevant. You're not going to "pull an Anthony" and say that pederasty is better than digging up bones are you?

3/1/2019 01:47:15 pm

"pull an Anthony"
In my books being obviously and intentionally obtuse is far worse than being ignorant.

3/1/2019 02:00:46 pm

I'm just waiting for you to say "you can't prove that relics were never sold by the Catholic church"

Go ahead, pull another Wolter.

3/1/2019 02:51:11 pm

I'm not saying the Catholic sold relics.
At worst I'm say Catholics bought them.
In Canada they're trying to give them away.
https://aleteia.org/2018/04/09/more-than-250-relics-of-catholic-saints-are-being-given-away-in-canada/

"I'm just waiting for you to say "you can't prove that relics were never sold by the Catholic church""

I'm not saying that.

Calm down.

3/1/2019 03:23:59 pm

"In Canada they're trying to give them away.
https://aleteia.org/2018/04/09/more-than-250-relics-of-catholic-saints-are-being-given-away-in-canada/"

“Relics, you can’t buy them and they’re not for sale, because they’re sacred,” she explained."

Is there a point to this other than deflection?

Catholics have relics of specific highly revered saints and Popes which they treat with the upmost respect, honor,and reverence.

Miller illegally robbed and disrespected the graves of hundreds of unknown and unnamed native Americans so that he could collect them like stamps.

Without any more smoke and mirrors, Is this the same thing ?
Yes or no ?

3/1/2019 03:50:54 pm

dan,

Stick to pulling yourself, and leave me out of it.

butthurt by bones

3/1/2019 07:19:33 pm

You jumped in.

Why would I put lotion on my skin? You're championing a guy who mad a skinsuit out of his mother's corpse. In your mind making a skinsuit out of your mother's corpse and having a decapitated flayed corpse hanging in your barn with B&D leg spreaders between the ankles, and murdering at least two people is BETTER than having a collection of old bones.

Nice.

orang

2/28/2019 03:56:13 pm

Just to be a contrarian here, you must be aware that there are a lots of people who are just nutty for American indian culture, so his obsession could be viewed as love for Indians, and not racism. The bones part of the story is weird and sick, at least to me it is. Many years ago, I attended a genealogy club meeting which was well attended on how to find one’s indian ancestry. At that time, finding your own indian ancestor if you thought you may have had one was very popular. Unfortunately, due to the USA’s historical restrictive policies against Indians , the only tribes the USA citizens could find to join were the Wannabes and the Outalucks. Canadians had an easier time of it to advance their search for their ancestors. Elizabeth Warren, eat your heart out.

2/28/2019 04:47:19 pm

Honey, if you're robbing their graves, you do NOT love them. If you disrespect their culture, you do NOT love them. If you take without asking, you do NOT love them. No. If this is viewed as "love for Indians," it's by RACISTS.

2/28/2019 04:20:14 pm

I am confused.

What is "White"?

Why does White make Anglo-Saxon racist?

How does anyone know the race of the bones if, DNA tests haven't been done?

Otherwise, this is like Cherchin Man, and Woman. Everyone cried out things like, "Celtic People, Anglo-Saxon, European, White"...Then the DNA came back Asian.

Growing up, most sources claimed, "Chariots were invented by the Egyptians in 1,800 BC". I have now lost count of the number of Chariots dug up with the "White" owner, still inside. All of which are said to be from 3,000 BCE, or before. Apparently, being buried with your car is not a new idea.

Were all Vikings white? Vikings is a pretty broad term in the first place.

Just curious.

2/28/2019 04:56:33 pm

1. "White": belonging to or denoting a human group having light-colored skin (chiefly used of peoples of European extraction).
2. White doesn't make Anglo-Saxon racist. Behaving like Anglo-Saxon is superior to anyone not-white makes racist. Grave-robbing only from another race makes him racist.
3. Context can be used even before DNA testing. One assumes, if this was a "museum," that they were LABELED as to where they came from, making it easy to say, "Oh, this says Cherokee graveyard location xxxx, is Native American."
4. This is the way archeology WORKS, honey. Until older chariots were found, the earliest known where Egyptian. Thus, assumption that they were invented in Egypt first. Revised once older ones were found elsewhere, and widely admitted to in academic literature. Not archeology's fault you couldn't be bothered to keep up to date.
5. "Viking" was never a people. "Viking" was a VERB, meaning "raiding." So NO "vikings" were white, because they were activities, not people.
6. Do you actually have any idea what a "topic" is or how to stay on it?

3/3/2019 05:09:43 pm

V,

In response to your responses, without a hateful tone.

1. Ok, but, doesn't answer question.
2. Ok. Bigot maybe. Racism is institutionalized.
3. I never "assume".
4. No. Not really. An awful lot of folks still cry out "Egypt First".
5. Duh! Did you not read, "broad term"?
6. Yep

Cherchen Man, and Woman have been shown to have "Asian DNA". By all appearances, both appear to be the stereotypical White people. When exactly did whiteness become an Anglo-Saxon European thing?

2/28/2019 05:13:57 pm

Mr. Colavito likely is seeing the racial component more-clearly here than the commenters because he's probably more-aware of the history of this sort of stuff.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/07/13/dissected-bodies-and-grave-robbing-evidence-of-unequal-treatment-of-19th-century-blacks-and-poor/#770c14ef6d12

Mr. Colavito should've quoted this part of the article too.

[[Nearly all of those human remains, he [Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI's art crime unit] said, were also dug up from ancient Native American burial sites. "It's very staggering," Carpenter said.]]

The replies Mr. Colavito's been getting are pretty disappointing, and sadly illustrate his point.

-An Anonymous Nerd

2/28/2019 07:23:17 pm

The Egyptian tomb raiders plundered the tombs of the pharaohs and sold not only they stolen jewlery, pottery, sculptures, and other artifacts but ALSO the mummies themselves. Where they "racists" ?
Were the Roman Catholic relic hunters "racist" ?
Were Burke & Hare's midnight exumations to supply Edinburgh’s medical schools with cadavers considered "racist" ?

The operative words in all of the above are necessity and GREED. I fear the inflamatory word "racist" is being over-used by many people, including Mr. Colavito - even though I am inclined to agree with hiom in many instances. I just feel that while certain acts may be construed as having racist over-tones, in truth, the base motivation is greed/

2/28/2019 08:11:35 pm

The common thread is seeing non-White human remains as artifacts, not human remains. In your examples, only one sort of fits. (The Egyptian one.) I doubt racism is a factor in all grave-robbings but no one was suggesting it was.

However, when you mistreat human remains on the basis of race, even if your underlying motive is something else, then I'm prepared to call that racist and I'm glad Mr. Colavito is too.

If this case had been a case of "this guy was grabbing every old human remain he could find for display," then, no it wouldn't be racist. But that's not what's in the article.

-An Anonymous Nerd

2/28/2019 08:21:23 pm

Sure, but in this particular case greed does not seem to be a factor.

Crash55

2/28/2019 07:22:48 pm

The CBS Evening News just broadcast the story. They led with Chinese artifacts and ended with the bones / archaeologist / tribal elder. They didn’t go into much about the guy itself except that he was a collector and died in 2015.

I think leaving the bones to th end worked well in the video. It was treated like a reveal and it was definitely framed as a racist act.

3/1/2019 03:22:21 am

Thanks, well worth the watch.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-seized-artifacts-indiana-home-human-bones-chinese-stone-age-weapons/

A C

3/1/2019 03:15:48 am

Lots of people with a strange desire to defend the honour of a criminal here. Humans are taboo making animals and the 'deal' that a large sector of the American public appears to have bought into is that they will try and be polite and in return they won't be called the 'racist' word, but calling people words isn't why racism is a problem, that's the actual hate crimes and the broader structural inequalities that the nasty language defends.

From my perspective racism is quite rare, but all 4 of my grandparents were local to the country I live in. If you're not the target of racism one simply has no reference for how common it is.

Racism was still the centuries old rarely challenged doctrine of the day in western democracies at the time where the most active members of the modern voting public were growing up. Believing few civil rights bills fully reversed that in a few generations is willful naivety.

Language policing isn't 'taking racism seriously', taking racism seriously is examining your own prejudice, listening to the experiences of oppressed groups and thinking about the role you personally might play in the normalized violence of our societies.

3/1/2019 01:00:16 pm

A lot of the whataboutisms here involves practices of the past and/or those in other societies that in the current US are often both illegal and highly stigmatized. We are talking Indiana in 2019 not mid 19th century Britain or the Vatican or ancient Egypt or New Guinea. The fact that collecting Native American remains in the here and now often draws much more cavalier reactions is rather revealing.

I did a lot of archaeology and cemetery surveys in the south and Midwest. When I hear about someone digging up bodies in a white cemetery I generally think of people who are recognized as deviant. On the other hand if it happens with Indians it is just as likely to be one if the more respected members of the community.

3/1/2019 05:58:44 pm

Somewhat off topic, but fun.
Here is good old Gunn's metallurgy test on his iron object that he claims to be a medieval chisel holder he discovered at Runestone Hill.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=116490662824838&set=p.116490662824838&type=3&theater

9.37% Aluminum.

Hahahahaha,, he had this tested years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#History

"Attempts to produce aluminium metal date back to 1760.[54] The first successful attempt, however, was completed in 1824 by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, In 1856, Deville along with companions established the world's first industrial production of aluminium."

MLee

3/3/2019 10:30:12 am

I have no horse in this race but thought I would comment.

The metals analysis provided is XRMA (X-ray microanalysis) provided by either an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence instrument or the analysis provided for a similar method in a scanning electron microscope. Elements toward the beginning of the periodic table (low atomic number) have a fair amount of error due to sample absorption of the fluorescent energy being absorbed by the sample matrix and insensitivity by the detection system. This means that the lighter element have a fair amount of uncertainty in actual amount. The aluminum detected does not mean that aluminum metal is present in the sample but rather that the sample contains the element aluminum. The cause of the aluminum could be an iron aluminum intermetallic phase or due to soil contamination on the sample.

My 2 cents.

3/3/2019 11:59:40 am

I won't pretend to be at all knowledgeable about X-ray microanalysis (In fact I could self publish 3 books about what I don't know about it.)
That said, wouldn't 9.37% Aluminum be a rather large amount of error?
It would seems silly to even use XRMA to test metals with that sort of error possible.
Also would the " element aluminum" be present in the raw forms of the non metallic substance or substances needed to produce actual metallic aluminum ?

As I said I am totally ignorant on this subject.

Thanks.

3/3/2019 02:39:05 pm

I just mentioned this on an older blog entry of Andy Whites and Harold Edwards responded that 10% aluminum is NOT uncommon in Medieval Scandinavian iron objects.

So,,,, um,,, never mind.

Sherman Hilgren link

3/5/2019 07:55:33 am

There are also some that claim he planted this so he could find it. That story has changed many times.This looked more like a clump of slag and judging by the dust on it or in it,,,, it had sat on someone bookshelf for many years before he found it clutched in the roots of a previously planted small poplar tree that had blown over and just a few feet from where the runestone was found clutched in roots of a small poplar tree too.

Mike Morgan

3/7/2019 01:32:11 am

Jim,

Metallurgy test is gone, as well as he, and everything else he posted.

Oh, and Joe Scales, you are either credited or blamed, take your pick, because, you know, I am one of your aliases.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/149844915349213/permalink/857036377963393/

3/7/2019 11:17:18 am

Gunn Sinclair? That's Voyles, right? That imbecile is still on about this? My God... like I have enough time in a day to be each and every one of this man's demons.

That's why you stay anonymous ladies and gentlemen, even just to express dismay at fringe fantasies. Because such psychopaths will hunt you down in real time. Where's Darwin when we need him...

3/7/2019 12:40:13 pm

OMG,, that link is hilarious.
I think I am going to go out and picket Smokey the Bear ! lol

What is with these guys ? Wolter and Patrick Shekelton keep calling me Harold (Edwards). I guess we know who gets under their skin the most.
My ultimate goal is to have them call someone else Jim.

Poodleshooter

3/7/2019 04:46:49 pm

"AT RISK
3/22/2017 10:20:04 pm
Lurking for Years, BigNick, Americanegro (that's just here, now) previously Joe Scales, Mike Morgan, previous to that, EP and Mr. Lister who has had an obsession with Wolter for years. Right now, Scott is lying somewhat low, so this over-the-board internet stalker and troll is now following and attacking me. This happened at Andy White's blog also, and he was fooled and ended up turning against me, which is why I thought about offering my reward on this site (while he was visiting) rather than attempt to learn more about a gizmo from readers at his website. Freedom of speech is limited over on his blog for me, while one troll with many names goes into attack mode again, here. This is a behind-the-scenes history lesson, folks, and the reason our new, beautiful First Lady will go into attack mode against hateful and destructive cyber-bullies, like Mr. Lister…a biker from the West Coast…and not an Americanegro, as I’ve seen a photo of Mr. Lister. Lurking for Years, you’re not the hidden super-hero-skeptic you think you are…you’re just a nasty, long-term cyber-bully with obsessions, so maybe you should consider finally giving it up here. Pretty laughable stuff, you say, huh?"

www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/fbi-investigating-russian-connection-to-infowars-why-do-so-many-outlets-tied-to-russia-back-ancient-astronaut-and-ufo-conspiracies

3/3/2019 03:53:22 pm

Jason,and All,, where I grew up we were taught ''not to speak ill of the dead''.
and also Don can not defend or explain his actions.
And ''if we can not say something good about another person, to say nothing at all!'' aka 'stick a sock in it'' (I doubt wolters never learned this too).

Don Miller had sent us his phone number and I had been asked to contact him.
About a dozen years ago I called and spoke with him. He had told me he had a large collection of Viking artifacts in his basement he wanted to see get put in a local museum here in Minnesota as they came from here and the Dakotas. I thought he maybe had a few stones or metal artifacts and had no idea he had 41,000 artifacts. Because it was too far to drive down to see them I called another friend (R. Ozman) in Indiana and gave him the contact info and I do not know if he followed thru or dropped the ball all together.

Don was a missionary and had worked with Oppenhiemer. He was well respected in the community and had an exhibit in a local museum and he and his collection were written about many. times. He was not charged with any crime and at the time they were collected the thinking was much different on bones and artifacts. He did not sell artifacts.
The Arikara are the Mandans and lived in North Dakota on the Heart and Missouri rivers and were considered a possible link to the Vikings and they were collected with the help of others and the natives too. The Mandans originally came from Minnesota.

I hope his collection will be handled with care and respect and that we will one day be able to see them and know where they came from or who they belonged to. I hope he had documented them and kept good records.