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Comment by throwawayzx | Hacker News Reader

My local museum got nothing to show since all my countrie's artifact's were stolen and kept in the European museums.

Got to wait until we get strong enough to steal ours back. Lol

Interesting how so many countries kept their ancient artifacts safely buried rather than in museums where they could be seen and studied, or hidden in plain sight as bedpans or soup pots.

When you do steal them back, let us know, because some of those artifacts the Europeans stole from you actually belong to my tribe, which your tribe stole from us. Just waiting for you to steal them back from the Euros so we can steal them back from you, lol.

P.S. some of the artifacts you stole from us originally belonged to one of our neighbor tribes, who we stole them from, but as far as I'm concerned they should be ours. Let's just keep that between you and me though! Lol.

Instead of saying that rightful owners should get their artifacts you have down the bs route.

In the real world developing world is getting stronger and Europe is weakening. That tells you what's in the store sooner or later

I have no idea what country you are even talking about, but why would a modern state have any claim on things that were sold away before it even came into existence?

If I sell stuff overseas, does "rightful ownership" return to the nation I lived in as soon as it becomes historically interesting?

So all of Picassos work is now the property of Spain?

That notion is ridiculous and unworkable.

Returning stolen stuff back is an opportunity for Europe to earn trust back.

Regardless of the choice they end up where they belong in one way or another.

China hired thieves to take back looted art from France museum few years ago.

If the sale was legitimate sure. But there is a long, proven history of fraudulent sales and straight theft. In those (numerous) instances would it not behoove the recipient to return them?

There are some people here saying “the people who made them are dead”. Which I imagine is an argument for “nobody actually owns them”. Which is a myopic view. The cultural heritage of a region should be able to be enjoyed by the people of that region. Imagine if major artifacts of American, or British (or wherever you are from) history were lost to another far away land and you had no opportunity to marvel at them, how might you feel?

That said, there is something to the notion of borrowing and “tours” of artifacts, so people of the world can also enjoy them.

All the people that made it are dead, and so are the people that stole it.

If it makes you feel any better all those historically powerful civilizations (you know, the ones big enough to leave artifacts 3000 years later) were absolutely brutal to others. So “their” artifacts are really just collections of things they killed/raped/stole from others.

I love the pyramids, for example, but they’re also monuments to slavery.

> I love the pyramids, for example, but they’re also monuments to slavery.

Really? Of all the possible examples of brutality you pick the one that probably didn't happen?

Not that it negates your point, but still.

You are right, the OP does something of a disservice to the facts. Slavery was prevalent elsewhere in ancient Egypt[0]. In a sense, however, the contributions of slavery to Egyptian society provided economic foundations for projects like the pyramids.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Egypt

many such cases

The best evidence indicates that Egyptian pyramid workers were not slaves.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/builders.html

The pyramids, as suggested by evidence, was NOT built by slaves, but by craftsmen. Which makes sense. You don’t get someone who you captured at war or pillaging or what have you, to build an intricate construct that requires a lot of skill and knowledge.

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