Profit And Loss: Scientific networks and the commodification of Indigenous Ancestral Remains

This chapter is the first substantial examination of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century commercial trade in Indigenous Ancestral Remains. Previous scholarly research has focused on networks of donation, gift and patronage. Although noting its presence, such scholarship has failed to realise the prevalence of commercial dealings or explore its nature and extent. This chapter focuses on the various mechanisms involved in this arena of commercial dealings and breaks new ground in the mapping of economic incentives behind the removal of human remains and the subsequent ‘chain of supply’. It argues that this commercial network can be justifiably identified as an economy.