Ahmad 
Britain’s auction house has backed out of selling ancient Egyptian skulls worth more than $350 a skull, after criticism and outrage over the past few days.
The auction house decided to withdraw 18 skulls belonging to ancient Egyptians from the sale, after a British MP said selling them would perpetuate colonial atrocities.
The head of the parliamentary group on African compensation, Bill Ribeiro Adde, condemned the act as a “flagrant violation of human dignity”, adding that the sale of remains for any purpose should be prohibited.
A spokesman for the Pitt Rivers Museum in England called for the remains to be returned to Egypt, saying it was “disgusting that in 2024 the sale of African humans remains a problem.”
“This despicable trade perpetuates a dark legacy of exploitation, colonialism and dehumanization, a flagrant violation of human dignity and an affront to the memory of those whose lives have been lost,” the spokesman said.
The remains belong to tombs in the valley in the southwestern region of Egypt and were found in 1881 by Augustus Pitt Rivers, who is often referred to as the father of British archaeology.
A source from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities confirmed that the various auctions are being monitored and the return of any artifact displayed in them is officially demanded and registered in the council’s records.
The source explained that regarding the unregistered antiquities, the ministry is cooperating with the Egyptian concerned authorities to demand that the government in whose country the auction is located for the return of the pieces again.
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