FBI seizes stolen artifacts and thousands of bones from Indiana home 

So the smithsonian can DiSPOSE of skeletons by admittingly throwing thousands of them in the ocean, and it's okay.

At 2:57, there's a professor of Anthropology "brought in by the FBI." Talk about letting the coyote into the henhouse! She speaks of cultural 'racism,' in that the artifacts are not 'white.' How does she characterize the TENS OF THOUSANDS of indigenous skeletal remains in various anthropological and ethnological museum collections (especially Ivy League universities) across North America? How is that okay???

The dude who had all this stuff sounds like he'd be super awesome to hang out with.

Please tell SMITHSONIAN to return OUR 12,000 items!!!! GreatBasinNv

What was it that the FBI took from his home that they are not willing to discuss? Curious minds want to know.

FBI should raid museums then, they dug without permission years ago also.

Not one mention of the value, the real reason the FBI wanted these artifacts. It's about money not dead bones.

Just remember, if you dig in the ground as a private citizen you've commited a crime, but if you're the government and do it you're an "archaeologist" and perfectly legal.

Many universities have native American bones and they are not talking about those. I worked in the "bone room" or Oregon State University in 2010 sorting and logging bones for "repatriation" back to any tribe that can be identified, and/or claimed.

Our justice system never ceases to ablaze me...

It sucks that he died, I suspect you could ask him anything about the artifacts in his possession and he could tell you when, what, and where he got it.

It’s funny they Agent says “ these people need to be treated with dignity & respect.” Maybe they should try that hard with the living native Americans. Apparently once dead, their human rights return.

This guy travelled all over the world collected, historical artifacts, and fought nazis. So in other words he's Indiana Jones.

This man was a Curator of Museum, thou private. And I would guess storing the remains from view was out of respect. He had passion for what he did, pretty remarkable person.

Want to know something. The neighborhood i live in had HUNDREDS of mounds in the late 1800s and the people flattened them to make houses.

So it's a horrible crime for a private person to collect/dig up artifacts and bones from ancient cultures, but perfectly OK if a foreign government or one of our institutions does the same. I can understand the desire for knowledge and archaeological excavations, but at least some of the objects which I saw in the video (the so called ancient Chinese jades) were modern reproductions and most of the items readily available on Ebay or through ancient art dealers, and legally available. I know of many instances of "looting" by local people in SE Asis just recently. There are numerous burial grounds with valuable ancient beads and copper alloy castings witch have been continuously looted over the past 50 years in many parts of the Mekong delta....not to mention locals looting Mayan tombs in Mexico and Guatemala on a regular basis, etc, etc..... I guess the FBI doesn't have enough important crimes to work on.

"FBI's most important mission" Give me a break

3:10 annoys me a quite a bit since she completely waters down and missuses the term racism. The circumstance of historical relevancy to items and bones is the key here, not the skin color of the people whose graves have been defiled.

That man probably lived an amazingly adventurous life, so interesting

I can't help but feel bad for the old guy. At least the things that he had were taken care of.

They don’t mention that the bones were ..bone tools. Nothing like digging up a human skeleton or anything like that. They try to twist the story to make the guy sound like Jeffrey Dahmer.

There are so many artifacts and paintings in museums in the world that belong in other countries. Is the FBI trying to get them back from the Louvre and the British Museum, for example? There are two Egyptian mummies up the street from me in the Lowe Anthro Museum - are they going back home any time soon? I don't get this story.

This is sad. When you are buried or scattered your wishes and culture should be followed. If I were buried 1,000 years ago I would expect to have my wishes honored. This is wrong.

The FBI was completely taken aback when they met a man that actually worked and was productive. (unlike them)

He did a good job.. being a collector. He is amazing.

Indiana Bones: and The Basement of The Stolen Skulls

Call me weird. But I for one would of loved to see this collection. I spied some very curious items there. But now it's disappeared,gone,locked away from public view. Was this man formally charged with committing a crime? If so. What was the charge or charges? Did it go to trial?

how in tf did she tie this situation to racism??

"Racism"??????? You've got to be kidding me...

This man was absolutely brilliant, I'll bet.

No difference between him and large museums like the Smithsonian. He seemed to be showing the artifacts and remains he had with respect and dignity. Until we hold corporate museums accountable I don't see any reason to hold this man accountable.

If that’s not OK, you should go to every museum in the country. They have lots of human bones.

Stolen artifacts and bones found from Indiana Indiana Jones 5 confirmed!

Does anyone know a good documentary or podcast about this man and his story? He is utterly fascinating! My biggest fear is that most of his artifacts will disappear and never be recorded or remembered.

He might of found something he shouldn't have found.

Never trust a missionary

The contrast between the way they handled this and the way they handled Standing Rock is stark.

I was told the British bought a lot of artifacts from the US in the 1900's . I was told Serpent Mound here in Ohio has been dug up and everything extracted and sold to England . I also know a guy who is said to have received stolen artifacts in his basement . They were stolen from a burial site here in Southern Ohio . He keeps them in his basement in a display case covered up with a table cloth .

Bones aren't humans. That womans fringe gave me bilious.

You had me till you threw racisim into it.

I'm glad he lived long enough too share

Imagine being a country and just getting a shippment of your own artifacts out of nowhere, "Wow, didn't even know these were stolen! Welp, they're out of the ground now and in good condition, time to stick 'em in a museum"

Somebody’s always snitching

By any chance did they happen to find a crate about four feet tall, three feet wide and about 8-10 feet long?

He died because the government accused him and raided his privacy rip to this man

How is it possible any of this is illegal. If the artifacts aren't stolen what's the problem. If he was on legal expeditions I see nothing wrong. It seems to be worth a lot of money and the government wants it. Also could contain too much information that the government doesn't want people to know.

Racism? Ok...you lost me. I think it's racist to call everything racism. You're a communist. I don't agree with what he was doing, but I also don't think it was racist. STOP LABELING EVERYTHING AS RACIST!!! It's possible to do the wrong thing without being racist. Plus, these people wouldn't even know these things existed if he hadn't unearthed them.

I love how they defend him for grave robbing.

i think the effort that they put into this is ten times more than they put into helping living native americans

3:20 WTF lady are you really going there. It’s history, it’s interesting.

racism? how is an interest in another culture racism

I wonder how haunted his home was.

I think some of the fascination with the native artifacts is that so much of that history has been ignored and out right intentionally erased that its steeped in mystery. Its a hidden history of the land and finding evidence of it is like finding a lost treasure. It is treasure. Artifacts are quite valuable. Its a culture so far removed from the way things are now, that its mystical, even magical.

So the FBI stole it from him!! WTF!!

We are all very tired of being lied to.

How about the bones of the 65 million babies murdered here in America? Or the act that they are still being murdered on a state level. If your so concerned about human rights...start here.

"It's treating them like they are nt people..." Oh, fer crying out loud. They are bones. Just bones. They are not alive. They are from himans but they are definitely not people. The people who once used them are all dead and have no further use for them. I hope that once I'm done using my bones that people are as passionate about defending my belief system. This can be summarized as follows: 1. For as long as I am actively using them, my bone exclusive belong to me. No one shpuld attempt to remove any of my bones without first obtaining my explicit permission. 2. Once I have reached my expiration date and taken the 838 fast train to Dekay City, I release all claim to these bones. For the record, these bones are not, on any sense of the word, sacred. Littles pieces of my soul are not trapped like prisoners of war within the calcium superstructures. They are dead. The bones are simply decaying, a naturel prpcess that returns my residuals to the planet. I'm not coming back and the bones are of no further use to me. Further, these bones are NOT resting. The bones are not alive and consequently, they have no need of rest nor do they require a church-approved "final resting place" - any old place above, on, or below the ground will do just fine. . 3. I do hereby indemnify and hold neither financially nor cultural liable, anyone who obtains my bones using any method, for any purpose. Such persons are free to modify or destroy my bones as they see fit. Under no circumstance will anyone be srrested and charged with a crime for simply possessing my bones? My bones my be collected, displayed, stored, sold, raffled, smashed, thrown away, smashed without holding anyone who does so criminally or financially liable. 4. Under no circumstances, shall ownership of my bones be held exclusively by the church or the state. I do affirm and certify that the statements above represent my deepest and most cherished beliefs regarding the disposition of my bones once I have no further use for them.

Damn, you'd think his house would be cursed/haunted to the max.

Instead of child trafficking, this is what we focus on???

It sounds like museums all over the world owe this man a HUGE “thank you!” For your passion, hobby, obsession with preserving history.

looks like they just wanted to rob him, bet they made a fortune selling the stuff

to me he was conserving history not destroying it ! was he right or wrong have no idea only that if he had not collected this would all be lost to time

I don't see how racism plays into this.

So why is our road covered with paleo artifacts we are still finding them on our road These developers dug up a ancient burial ground and paved the road . We're still gathering bones and tools all the pottery is missing

3:20 Racism???? he did this because of racism??? lol lmao

Bruh that woman really said it was racism

Civil War General Dan Sickles put his own leg bones in a museum and visited the museum to see his bones.

As an American born and raised I find it absolutely disgusting that we as Americans don't hold up the peoples who lived here before we came up to s higher degree its the history of the USA and it really dies matter to lots of us I just wish more whites and lots of others in the USA need to wake up put more respect on the history

Wait! The raid happened then the man died in 2015, and we are just shown a news piece now?

racism. really??? more like curiosiry

I don't condone the robbing of graves but isn't that exactly what archeologists have done for centuries and placed the remains in museums. I guess that is OK.

They came and got his Giants!"* Ps Sacajawea was my seventh great grandmother. Proud to be an American

Finders, keepers! But seriously the bones are a bit of an issue

When i find an artifact i think of it as me preserving history and trying to understand the culture that chose that particular spot to live and why. It should be encouraged to collect stone artifacts.

It's not racism lady... Anything over 1000 years would be from another civilization and race of people...

Skull and Bones has Geronimo's skull

So basically the story goes like this: A man who spent his entire life helping people (missionary) and exploring various cultures and people groups, showed his love and care by painstakingly obtaining, preserving, and labeling reflections of these people. So he is clearly no "racist." In fact, he had European artifacts, but maybe the lady "professor" missed that. Her snide comment about "white people" shows SHE is CLEARLY a racist. The man didn't sell them, or charge people money to see his collection. So he didn't do it for money, so he is clearly no "grave robber." He then FREELY educated people on the various people groups through his own personal museum and collection with FREE tours. His absolute dedication cannot be understated or dismissed. He likely obtained most of these items before any antiquities laws were in place and the countries he obtained some of these things from have changed names and governments dozens of times through warfare over his 91 years and the items would have been lost or destroyed if he had not obtained them. Now those items were taken from him by force through a bunch of armed men with guns converging on this frail 91 year old man when he openly showed people his collection. Then with no attorney present, they begin telling him he was a criminal and allegedly coerced him to agree (though we we will never know this for sure, because he was never even charged). To prove he is none of the horrible things people are calling him in this video and comments, he FREELY gives them 5000 of his items. Notice they never say what the 5000 items were (likely gold, silver, or exceptional value). And while it was certainly in bad taste to obtain human remains, now the Native Americans have their ancestors in their posession to honor and respect and a location to place them and visit them, because the U.S. government sure didn't care about these bones as they wiped the native Americans off their land. And their remains were lost until the man found them. Lastly, these 5000 items that were stolen from the man never actually went back to their destination. The story says they are in a government warehouse (thinking about the end of Indiana Jones). Eventually, these items will be put in a museum just like the man's, but they will charge people $50 a ticket to see them, just like the "South American Indigenous Collection" I saw at the Chicago Museum of Art. And of course we never got to hear this man's side of the story because he likely died from the stress of the ordeal. His children should sue the government to give back the 5000 items because the government has never proven in a court of law that they were obtained illegally. Then they should use all of the publicity and rent a location, make it a museum and charge a donation for admission to see the rest of this man's collection. It would likely get quite a few visitors, because CLEARLY this was his love and passion, it cannot simply be dismissed as a "hobbie." Then they should get the input of Native American's and have a section for the Native Americans to highlight their artifacts, history and ancestry for the education of future generations.

I wonder if there were the bones of any giants in those remains of 500 people? If there were any, I'm sure they were removed first, and probably destroyed.

at least the old man acknowledged he had made mistakes and was willing to give back to make up for it.

When the man collected these things it wasn't illegal and now they want to drag him through the dirt because it's illegal now

I flinched each time Anna Warner mispronounced Iriquio.

Wow no jail time or fines..must be nice.

I'm indigenous to America and so sick of them getting away with GENOCIDE. WtF!!???

Wahoo. FBI nails 91 year old guy for just to many fossils. The old guy had nothing you wouldn't see in ANY museum. Now I can sleep so much better and safer. WTF. 😂😂😂😂

Indiana Jones's grand-kid is horrible

Why would this man collect human remains and hide them in his basement for decades? That's insane.

BE STRONG ENOUGH TO BE HONEST AND KIND

Grave sights have been dug up all over the world and are still being dug up my archeologist but when a white guy does it for a hobby hes racist.

This is yet another abomination; a grotesque violation of people we can't seem to respect. Absolutely horrifying.😢

So now the Smithsonian has it all!

I think he reconciled the seizure realizing his family may not have shared his passion for antiquities and artifacts. I'm glad he cooperated. A 90 year old man didn’t need incarceration.

I just finished a project educating Peruvian kids about the importance of not looting sites. Local people mostly aren't looting because the're evil and they suck; it's mostly that there is a cottage industry of amateur archaeology, tourists who are doing harm by inappropriately excavating sites. The local economy is pretty desperate so people lead the expeditions, or follow and loot the sites of tourists who simply found a site and wanted to explore it without taking anything. The thing is, local people do seem culturally connected to their ancestors, interested in that culture, enthusiastic and respectful of it-- more than where I'm from anyway. But it's the economy that is causing the harm and eroding their heritage (and possible money-generating museum and cultural tourism), and that's a tough problem to fix. Anyway, people kept asking, "where did he get these things from around the world?" These cottage industries can pop up in lots of places. I get that it's super cool to discover something and even to role-play as Indiana Jones but it causes harm.

The phrase "you can't take it with you" comes to mind. Graverobbing, the 3rd oldest profession???

WTF. This story isn’t about Trump

remember kids, if ur fascinated with the culture of certain indigenous groups that makes u racist

Since when did they start caring how they treated native Americans...it's a cover up.

Didn't Daddy Bush dig up the head of Geronimo?

He should have been able to keep them. How stupid.

"these are people" proceeds to vote for the party that is ok with after birth abortion.

The old guy lived to age 91. So much for curses and bad hoodoo and all that.