Whose Bones Are These? Investigating A Classroom Skeleton

[@skunkbear]

A bit more background about the bone trade mentioned in this video. It began in colonial times when British doctors hired thieves to steal skeletons from Indian graveyards. Ever since, there's been a steady stream of skeletons exported from the Kolkata. It's very unlikely the people who these bones belonged to had any say in the matter. The bone trade became officially illegal in 1986, but it still continues. More here: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16678816

[@cbuczek4470]

Why is this so depressingly not surprising at all? And I thought the "Bodies" traveling shows were the inception of grave robbing on a mass scale for Westerners.

[@ShaudaySmith]

interesting, thanks for the article!

[@vimulnath6325]

Sad but informational.

[@Tjonny1000]

I am South Indian, American. At the start this video I was curious where did this skeleton come from. And then I did began to realize that it could be the bones of anyone deemed inferior or from the colonized class, around the world. Finally, you came to the conclusion that this was a South Indian woman. She had died and her bones were stolen from their grave, and shipped to America for a profit, and used a teaching tool. This is the continued impact of the atrocities of European colonialism. And the healing and decolonization process can on be finished when we dig through the past and uncover this mysteries.

[@jamshedfbc]

No colonial power other than the Western/European admits its mistakes.

[@Tata45868]

can pay: a guy to dunk bone in acid, burn it and separe moolecules. can't pay: dna analisys

[@nikosoukkala2648]

or it was just a bit for the show which was most likely sponsored because le'ts face it. It would be pretty booring compare to what they did if they would just go to a dna check and tell how old she was blah blah blah you know. (and they were most likely sponsored by the other place too so extra money)

[@mrroc2556]

That’s not hard to believe. Renting out a ICP-mass spec (can differ based on the type of instrument) is generally a few hundred dollars. You would only need to do one trial and there isn’t a lot a troubleshooting involved. The same cannot be said for genetic analysis.

[@Мудак-ч6п]

MOO

[@maxximumb]

I'd love for my bones to go to a classroom. Even to have a photo of me with them, so that students could see how bone structure effects things like facial appearance. I'm already in the process of leaving my body to the UK's first forensic decomposition farm if and when it ever gets approved.

[@kdgmr97]

I want the same thing, but I also want a sign around me that says “don't rattle me bones".

[@avi3324]

yes

[@oliviaohara3132]

I thought I’d like this too, until my very own classroom has a human skeleton in it. The skeleton is very worn down from lack of care, it is very clearly missing several metacarpal bones because the wiring in the hand broke, the nasal bone is obliterated, there are several cracked ribs, one of them is completely broken, most of the teeth are missing, and the whole thing is layered in dust and algae from sitting above a fish tank. The damage is very clearly post mortem. I’m going to try and get my teacher to let me fix the skeleton up since it’s terrible that he allowed it to get to that state in the first place. If you want someone to care about your bones, a school is not the right place.

[@AnalkingSkinwalker69]

This comment was 2 years ago imagine if this person died and it’s now a skeleton in some classroom lol Hey buddy are you still alive??

[@n-extrafries-surprise]

Lol if I die young, I want to donate my skeleton to a university. Another female Asian skeleton to the collection.

[@echospace7347]

The Ultimate McNugget Nagi 😂😂💀

[@CaptainSeaDog_]

Same... except make that an asian male

[@warrenfryer1748]

I lov3 you name

[@MadCatMaddie]

Very interesting point at the end. "No one really knows what these people wanted". Or I might add if they were taken against there will? Who knows what the truth of the origins really were but none the less very interesting Skunk Bear vid.

[@themartianmantis2694]

I find it both interesting and disturbing that people can so easily disassociate a real skeleton from the human being it once was, as they said in the video it was just seen as some skeleton on string and not the remains of a human being that felt and had meaningful thoughts like the rest of us before they made the effort to learn more about the person. The idea of what remains of their corpse being strung up and sold to Americans just to sit in a class for kids to stare at or mess with for decades could've been a horrible nightmarish outcome to them. The fact that they were so young as well might imply they died of a sickness and suffered before their death, could've even been the victim of grave robbery. And now we're so far down the line that they likely don't have any family alive to remember them or tell their story.

[@MsLaBajo]

Pretty sure it was not a scrupulous endeavor or one that was ethical or that she even gave consent for this.

[@GaryHurd]

The pelvis has obviously been badly damaged over the years, and poorly reconstructed. If we look just at individual features (See ~ 8 seconds in) we see that the individual pelvic bones are female. As example, the arch of the sacrum is modest compared to that of a male. Also, if the ilium were properly angled to articulate with the sacrum we would see that the over all orientation of the pelvis would be more forward- again female. If you look a the sciatic notch, it is broad and this is a female trait.

[@quengren]

+Gary Hurd Thank you for this insight!

[@user-wj2qp1ig5s]

Um...the fact u said errie...from the jump..says alot

[@Mykasan]

oh god, i always though it was plastic.D:

[@furrtakuXD]

just so you know most of them are plastic

[@mceggalds5853]

It's so damn obvious if it's real bone or not, how the hell did you not know?

[@raymundoaustria5821]

You scared ?

[@DOFT.mp4]

​@@mceggalds5853 Well we usually don't go inspecting the bones

[@justabug1647]

May she rest in peace

[@mattaguilar8123]

I teach at an old high school too. We have one of these and a skull. I never thought about where it came from, but they always gave me chills

[@joestellwagon2122]

Any chance you would consider having an expert reconstruct the face to show us a image of this person, and have NPR or start a kickstarter to complete the DNA test? It would be a neat follow-up in the future.

[@skunkbear]

We've actually had a couple offers to do this for free - but the skeleton is back with the school now so it would be up to them. Plus, we try to keep our topics pretty varied, so we probably wouldn't revisit this until some time next year. But it is definitely a possibility.

[@AnalkingSkinwalker69]

NPR's Skunk Bear DEW IT

[@InJusticeAustralia]

@@skunkbear Genuine question please; could you please either write here, or PM me to tell me where could I send a presumed human bone sample to you get analysed to confirm? It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Ps: great video.

[@PotatoShirts]

First, let me say I love the channel. Second, can we get more of it???

[@meganrjones_6943]

Greg Johnston yes can we?

[@FBI_No.69420]

can you?

[@xibaryon7628]

I thought this would be a really stupid video, turned out to be one of the most educational video I've seen in a while!

[@candykanefpv]

They should be used if the person voluntarily donated themselves for that purpose. Otherwise a proper burial is in order.

[@QcumberArt]

But the one question you didn’t answer is how did she die

[@PhantomJRyder]

the furry gamer That's true-- it's entirely possible to determine cause of death via skeletal analysis. It would have been interesting closure.

[@XboxIssues]

@@PhantomJRyder Not really possible to tell in many many scenarios.

[@mushmush4980]

Being a likely Indian woman in the 1800s, unfortunately not well..

[@metalgear6531]

@Jai Shivray! They're indicating that this woman likely died a horrible, unjust death and now her bones are strung up like a Halloween decoration in some classroom oceans away from home.

[@1objection]

I got pretty sad when they said the skeleton likely belonged to a 25 year old as I had just turned 25.

[@johannaweichsel3602]

Wow, my high school has at least one human skeleton, and I heard that it was from a Vietnamese woman. Amazing.

[@sabinecohen8369]

Read Quora where a guy hiking in India came across a campsite where some natives were kidnapping young woman. They killed them, boiled down the flesh and sold the skeleton.

[@zahidabhatti2784]

Proud of Erie native and EDS graduate Elissa Nadworny! Keep exploring!

[@1221crow]

where can i find a link to that "skull data base" mentioned at 3:40 ? thank you

[@TheSingtangpaScienceGuy]

i thoroughly enjoyed this video. She's probably from my country who died somewhere around when the great revolt of 1857 happened. Thats deep.

[@Pranaynaynay]

I thought these classroom skeletons were just random bones from various individuals, not necessarily all from the same person

[@darthvader6533]

Pranay , that wouldn't be very helpful, as all the bones wouldn't fit together

[@XboxIssues]

@@darthvader6533 Yeaahh... Literally like finding a bunch of puzzle pieces and trying to make it work lol

[@darthvader6533]

@@XboxIssues reminds me of "missing link" skeletons

[@iluvchess14736]

They're most likely plastic

[@saifhasan7246]

This channel should have more views....

[@tomtasticsvideos9512]

i currently am a student of Mrs. Leasure and she told me all about this skeleton, which to this day, creepily sits in the back of the room

[@piplupcola]

Extremely fascinating stuff! Takes the things we always wondered about every day things we see and shows then in a whole new light!

[@vicenteisaaclopezvaldez2450]

¿What if there was a way to keep respects to a body while this one is also being used for science and learning?

[@victorviereck4117]

I have a sad news for everyone. If the skeleton really is of someone near 25 years old. Of a female. And some Someone of Indian decent found in and around the Ganges , and it really was found about a hundred years ago......well.....that poor soul was burned alive so that her ralitives can take away the property in her name. For anyone curious. Search "Sati( Indian tradition)" on Wikipedia. What they probably got there....is the evidence to an anonymous crime.

[@1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564]

Awesome work as always!

[@LeesaDeAndrea]

More interesting hanging around in a classroom than stuck in a box on a shelf or buried in the ground.

[@muhsinkirandish9911]

God knows what they did to this poor young girl

[@StuckInTheMiddlewithYou]

any estimation of manner or cause of death?

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

I can imagine that when she was alive, she must have been a very soft-featured woman with a slightly child-like silhouette. In short, quite cute.

[@jerryg.8767]

Awesome video! We also have a lot of skeletons in our anatomy department, and yeah the story goes that all of them were from India during the bone trade period.

[@damienluxford4480]

Cool presentation. Skeletons are the best!

[@BelaCurcio]

I know this lady's bones probably got stolen by grave robbers and it's a different situation, but I would love for my bones to be used this way in the future! I just feel like... it might be hard to facilitate that you know? Like how would you even go about arranging that? You probably have to be known within academia or something, or have connections with teachers or professors

[@everything_popculture]

Fascinating video, keep up the great work!!

[@nour3660]

imagine being in this skeliton's position, were you don't know wtf is happening in your reality

[@conornos]

I can't be the only one to say "Adam Cole, BAY BAY!!!"

[@aheadvenus9443]

That was which a great video, I love it, keep it up

[@KUMARUJJWALSINGH]

My hometown Varanasi is based on the bank of this Ganges river! And I'm an archaeologist (human osteologist). Would have loved to examine this bone 🦴😀

[@stanude]

As a retired Biology teacher, i can tell you that the skeleton in our lab was real, purchased from a well known biological supply company and the source was India. My students were told it was real and to respect it as the dead remains of a real person.

[@acdb-4145]

were the tests able to five any insight as to how she died?

[@skunkbear]

No - there weren't any signs of industry or disease (although there are lots of diseases that wouldn't show up in bone). However, we looked up the life expectancy of a woman in India around the turn of the 19th century - and it was in the mid-twenties. So it's possible she died a natural death.

[@grizlerber]

I love this KZbin channel.

[@月-m4x]

So you’re telling me one day my bones could end up in a classroom with children and teachers touching me. I’m in shock

[@KaterrinaChicago]

Skumbear, can you please investigate Bismuth crystals and find out how they get their cool shape?

[@usrbin1]

Watch and see how this relates to this NPR topic " Death in Paradise: Season 1 Episode: 3 " Richard is inclined to believe the death of a voodoo priestess is murder when she dies in the island's local school just hours after predicting her own death. Richard learns of an affair that took place years earlier in the school leading to the disappearance of a woman, and believes that the victim has a connection to the missing woman. He turns his attention to Nicholas, the prime suspect and Fidel's old principal, who was involved in the disappearance of the woman, but Nicholas has an alibi, leading Richard to question whether he is being set up or not.

[@GaryHurd]

Great show for the first 2 years.

[@samirm]

awesome episode!

[@chaffeyable]

When they say you gat a face for radio this is the face I picture.

[@ColbyWanShinobi]

Fascinating!

[@caesar7734]

I was expecting a recreation of what she looked like

[@KaterrinaChicago]

Skunk Bear, can you please investigate how bismuth crystals get their cool shape?

[@hollow8730]

Man I love skunk bare

[@grymble]

I have know idea how none of them weren’t shitting their pants that there’s a real human skeleton in a closet

[@danr1920]

What did she die from?

[@Slash11512]

How did she die?

[@811-k5v]

How did she die!!???

[@noname13years62]

in 1800s people used to live for 20-25 years here in India .So, a natural death I guess.

[@gracewu511]

Back in the 19th century.

[@Nobody-dm2ol]

4:41 Why tf are you both holding it?

[@jerrylim6722]

hmm... I don't get why a legal trade would be shady. I mean it's legal so what's there to be used against you? you don't even know what happened to those guys so it's not your fault if you get a guy that's been freshly killed just to complete the trade.

[@GDXdominator]

it was probably the janitor who complained about his job.

[@absolutenutter1007]

Wow, that’s Erie..... I’ll leave now.

[@pando4379]

Ask for permsission to examine the skeleton first

[@hardikvora788]

It's like watching an American series called 'Bones'.

[@TheTitanic448]

What happened 100 years ago was the titanic sink so basically that is 100 years old the titanic is 108 and the those bones are 100

[@boballende]

Excellent!

[@Moosh_]

If people do decide to lay them to rest we should build a graveyard that has signs of all beliefs so no matter what they believed in they should go where they believed they would go

[@gracewu511]

I love ❤️ it.

[@axierogaming4854]

I want my bones to go in some kings treasure room yeah

[@TheEnabledDisabled]

In my opinion a real skeleton can teach u way more than plastic, like how u demonstrated here. Unless the relative of the skeleton is found it should be allowed to teach th future generationa bout our biology.

[@pizzapizza247]

That's kinda creepy.

[@willemvandebeek]

I was expecting a facial reconstruction, like they did with Otzi -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi

[@skunkbear]

We did look into this a little ... but it's REALLY expensive to do it right. And there is some controversy about how accurate the results are. We talked to some anthropologists who kind of dismissed those types of projects, and others who though they were great. It would have been so cool to see this woman's face ... but we also didn't want to misrepresent her.

[@willemvandebeek]

Do you mean almond shaped eyes versus indian eyes? Yeah, I can see how that can be sensitive without testing the DNA to be ~100% sure. :-/

[@dominiquiedoe5756]

Lol why not called ahead so you don't have to carry it around 😅

[@InJusticeAustralia]

Genuine question please; could you/ anyone please either write here, or PM me to tell me where could I send a presumed human bone sample to you get analysed free to confirm? It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Ps: great video.

[@canislunaticus]

We have a real skeleton in our classroom (I live in southern Norway)

[@hersv]

Very interesting investigation. It is also the way we used to find answers or conclusions based on evidences that we collected as many as we can.

[@mowwno]

That's probably what william aftons remainings will be like Just all the bones not attached

[@echospace7347]

They could’ve started a go fund me for the DNA

[@mr.computer7538]

This sounds weird but what's it smell like?

[@starthelotus3453]

Nothing iirc

[@sovietrussia2804]

the bones say you killed a man

[@grunglr]

Interesting...

[@xiangliuthefox3071]

I fell like it was fake cus, it's so white and light colored, but I was wrong..

[@MasonRHarper]

he kinda sounds like vsauce Michael

[@plink4861]

Same thing at my school realy...

[@aripuspondaru6686]

Adam Cole Baybay

[@Rhoadie1]

As for the bones.... Ah who gives a shit.

[@Cubixander]

She looks like héctor

[@Popanimates]

the skeleton appears

[@GludiusMaximus]

*Fertilizer*

[@crocogators]

spooky scary skeletons

[@emilyanu3721]

😱😱😱.... And i m from India 😶

[@naineko8989]

FreAkY

[@darthvader6533]

I wonder if I could do this, anybody want a 6 foot 7 skeleton?

[@confusedwhale]

Was it.... . MURDER!?!!?!!?!!?!!?!??!?!!!?!!??!!??!?

[@kalvon]

Hmm.. asian dude huh... ops I mean girl.. cool!

[@pcbona]

How dare you, assuming it's gender. Maybe it identified as a Apache helicopter while still alive.

[@csrb338]

I think it’s an old white trans man from Canada posing as a female from Ireland with red hair.

[@combos9780]

Erie pa!!

[@vimulnath6325]

She was an Indian.

[@purplejellyfish395]

Bob nd vegana

[@-gemberkoekje-5547]

I geussed tibet

[@csagan-bh2qy]

Fun

[@doinosor6405]

I thought race was a social construct

[@vilukisu]

Racial categorization is.

[@doinosor6405]

I don't see a difference

[@vilukisu]

Aidan Suess there is obviously variation between humans based on the general region their ancestors lived in. But the categories and where we draw the lines are 100 percent arbitrary. The idea of who is white for example has varied greatly through times. The concept of who qualifies as a member of an ethnic group is definitely a social construct. The other thing is that people think there are way more differences between the 'races' than there actually are. Majority of things re simply cosmetic, and many of the "deeper" differences are actually a product of the cultures and not race.

[@doinosor6405]

Jumi ok, so it’s just the label of say polar bear and brown bear which were created by man that are the social constructs, because we could name them anything else; all though they are still different objectively but only god can define what is one ore the other?

[@vilukisu]

Aidan Suess but we chose to define them as a different species. Hardly anythinf in nature fits our narrow categories. Categories were created by man, man wasn't created for categories