From my time majoring in Arch, I’d say the rule of thumb is:
“Is the culture the body came from vanished or changed to the point where no one has a personal stake in it.”
So for example, vikings are long since gone. Modern northern europeans are generally a completely different culture, therefore not grave robbing. Same with Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, etc…
Indigenous tribes in North America and Australia for example, still very much around and still very much grave robbing (though that opinion is controversial)
Basically, if the existing culture still shows reverence to those ancestors…leave them alone. If the existing culture no longer honours them as ancestors, dig baby dig.
I guess that as long as nobody complains, it isn’t grave robbing.
well, i hereby complain
What if she was the one stealing your grave?
This model has way too many polys. 230 or gtfo.
It’s a government permit thing, not a time thing. If you go an dig up an Etruscan grave on your own it is absolutely grave robbing.
Yeah but that’s just putting the problem of defining it onto governments.
If a court orders the exhumation of a murder victim, is that technically archeology?
Hmm true. Adam Savage would say it’s whether or not you’re keeping notes.
