News
A Spooky 19th-century Recreation of a Hellenistic Classic
In 1850, Josef Hyrtl recreated the iconic ancient Greek sculptural group “Laocoön and His Sons” using real human and snake skeletons.
skeletons
In Brief
In a Historic First, Australia Agrees to Return Ainu Remains to Japan
It would be the first repatriation of remains to the indigenous people by a foreign country.
News
Dozens of Māori and Moriori Remains Return to New Zealand from European Museums
The Übersee-Museum Bremen and three other institutions are repatriating 59 Moriori and Māori ancestral remains collected in the 19th century.
Art
How a Smithsonian Naturalist’s Skeleton Ended Up on View at the Museum
The skeleton of 19th-century collector Robert Kennicott is on view in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History's Objects of Wonder. The bones recently solved the long mystery of his death.
![Cheery Skeleton Mosaic Found in Turkey Says, "Enjoy Your Life" [UPDATED]](/content/images/size/w600/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/04/skeletonmosaicfront.jpg)
In Brief
Cheery Skeleton Mosaic Found in Turkey Says, "Enjoy Your Life" [UPDATED]
Reclining by a wine jug and a portion of bread, a cup in one bony hand, the skeleton on a 3rd-century BCE mosaic discovered in Turkey has a simple message for its viewers: "Be cheerful, enjoy your life."
Art
Skeletons on the Shelves: Museums' Slow Return of Indigenous Remains
Active repatriation of indigenous remains in museums only gathered serious momentum in the 1980s.
Books
Photographs Document the Global Traditions of Living with the Dead
Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us, a photography book by Paul Koudounaris out this month from Thames & Hudson, is a visual narrative of how a more visceral relationship to the dead thrives across the globe.
Art
Medieval Bling: Skeletons Encrusted in Jewels and Gold
In a forthcoming book titled Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs, photographer Paul Koudounaris brings before his lens bejeweled skeletons long-lost in the catacombs of Rome.