Thanks, Michaelson, for the eBay link; and my idol thoughts...

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Posted by Inbanana Jones from spider-wo061.proxy.aol.com on May 12, 2000 at 20:48:33:

Checked out the Tibetan skull on eBay, after Michaelson. Yes, there would definitely be customs issues raised by an attempt to import this sucker. There are also ethical issues to raise with eBay, as their formerly (1998) stated policy was to monitor for and reject the posting of items incorporating human remains. Sigh, I guess ya can't trust anyone these days.
EBay appears to be leading the field in on-line auctioning of finite and STOLEN cultural resources; witness the proliferation of items such as Pre-Columbian pots, Native American potsherds, etc. Claims are made for these items as having come from private land, but don't you believe it... The very fact that eBay disregards its own stated policies re: selling human remains may be inferred to indicate a COMPLETE head-in-the-sand attitude when it comes to potential legal and ethical oversight of the goods they sponsor.
I challenge anyone reading this to send a letter of protest to eBay suggesting they renew claims for respecting both international law pertaining to the traffic in antiquities, as well as work against the destruction of archaeological resources by ceasing to advertise collections of potsherds, human remains, and cultural artifacts without a clear and legal provenience.
Indy would kick their damned ass if he was real...

As to that idol: as Patterson suggested, many Andean objects were carved from wood and covered with a thin hammered layer of gold foil. On a side note, one of the most effective materials for keeping layers of gold foil from sticking together as they are beaten flat was a thin layer of intestine sandwiched between the gold sheets. Pretty tasty, no?
-Inby



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