Whose Bones Are These? Investigating A Classroom Skeleton

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  • Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
  • Using the tools of forensic anthropology, we explore the life and times of the mysterious skeleton we found in a high school art room.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 162

  • @Tata45868
    @Tata45868 6 років тому +136

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

    • @nikosoukkala2648
      @nikosoukkala2648 6 років тому +13

      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
      @mrroc2556 5 років тому +11

      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
      @Мудак-ч6п 5 років тому

      MOO

  • @maxximumb
    @maxximumb 6 років тому +189

    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
      @kdgmr97 6 років тому +19

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

    • @avi3324
      @avi3324 5 років тому

      yes

    • @oliviaohara3132
      @oliviaohara3132 4 роки тому +6

      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
      @AnalkingSkinwalker69 4 роки тому +6

      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??

  • @MadCatMaddie
    @MadCatMaddie 6 років тому +80

    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
      @themartianmantis2694 3 роки тому +1

      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
      @MsLaBajo 11 місяців тому

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

  • @n-extrafries-surprise
    @n-extrafries-surprise 6 років тому +95

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

  • @Mykasan
    @Mykasan 6 років тому +125

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

    • @furrtakuXD
      @furrtakuXD 6 років тому +32

      just so you know most of them are plastic

    • @mceggalds5853
      @mceggalds5853 4 роки тому +2

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

    • @raymundoaustria5821
      @raymundoaustria5821 4 роки тому

      You scared ?

    • @DOFT.mp4
      @DOFT.mp4 4 роки тому +11

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

  • @mattaguilar8123
    @mattaguilar8123 6 років тому +20

    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

  • @justabug1647
    @justabug1647 6 років тому +17

    May she rest in peace

  • @joestellwagon2122
    @joestellwagon2122 6 років тому +23

    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
      @skunkbear  6 років тому +15

      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
      @AnalkingSkinwalker69 4 роки тому +2

      NPR's Skunk Bear DEW IT

    • @InJusticeAustralia
      @InJusticeAustralia 2 роки тому +1

      @@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.

  • @skunkbear
    @skunkbear  6 років тому +89

    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
      @cbuczek4470 6 років тому +8

      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
      @ShaudaySmith 6 років тому

      interesting, thanks for the article!

    • @vimulnath6325
      @vimulnath6325 6 років тому

      Sad but informational.

    • @Tjonny1000
      @Tjonny1000 5 років тому +3

      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
      @jamshedfbc 4 роки тому

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

  • @PotatoShirts
    @PotatoShirts 6 років тому +45

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

  • @GaryHurd
    @GaryHurd 6 років тому +60

    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
      @quengren 6 років тому +4

      +Gary Hurd Thank you for this insight!

    • @user-wj2qp1ig5s
      @user-wj2qp1ig5s Рік тому

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

  • @xibaryon7628
    @xibaryon7628 6 років тому +29

    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
    @candykanefpv 6 років тому +2

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

  • @QcumberArt
    @QcumberArt 6 років тому +12

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

    • @PhantomJRyder
      @PhantomJRyder 6 років тому +1

      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
      @XboxIssues 5 років тому +1

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

    • @mushmush4980
      @mushmush4980 4 роки тому +2

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

    • @metalgear6531
      @metalgear6531 4 роки тому

      @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.

  • @Pranaynaynay
    @Pranaynaynay 6 років тому +20

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

    • @darthvader6533
      @darthvader6533 6 років тому +11

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

    • @XboxIssues
      @XboxIssues 5 років тому +1

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

    • @darthvader6533
      @darthvader6533 5 років тому

      @@XboxIssues reminds me of "missing link" skeletons

    • @iluvchess14736
      @iluvchess14736 3 роки тому

      They're most likely plastic

  • @saifhasan7246
    @saifhasan7246 6 років тому +1

    This channel should have more views....

  • @victorviereck4117
    @victorviereck4117 4 роки тому +1

    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
    @1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564 6 років тому +2

    Awesome work as always!

  • @vicenteisaaclopezvaldez2450
    @vicenteisaaclopezvaldez2450 6 років тому +1

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

  • @LeesaDeAndrea
    @LeesaDeAndrea 6 років тому

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

  • @muhsinkirandish9911
    @muhsinkirandish9911 5 років тому +2

    God knows what they did to this poor young girl

  • @KUMARUJJWALSINGH
    @KUMARUJJWALSINGH 2 роки тому

    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 🦴😀

  • @BelaCurcio
    @BelaCurcio 2 роки тому

    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

  • @jerryg.8767
    @jerryg.8767 6 років тому

    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.

  • @KaterrinaChicago
    @KaterrinaChicago 6 років тому

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

  • @tomtasticsvideos9512
    @tomtasticsvideos9512 2 роки тому

    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

  • @everything_popculture
    @everything_popculture 6 років тому

    Fascinating video, keep up the great work!!

  • @damienluxford4480
    @damienluxford4480 Рік тому

    Cool presentation. Skeletons are the best!

  • @conornos
    @conornos 4 роки тому

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

  • @aheadvenus9443
    @aheadvenus9443 6 років тому +1

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

  • @StuckInTheMiddlewithYou
    @StuckInTheMiddlewithYou 3 роки тому

    any estimation of manner or cause of death?

  • @KaterrinaChicago
    @KaterrinaChicago 6 років тому

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

  • @grizlerber
    @grizlerber 6 років тому

    I love this UA-cam channel.

  • @ColbyWanShinobi
    @ColbyWanShinobi 6 років тому +1

    Fascinating!

  • @hollow8730
    @hollow8730 3 роки тому

    Man I love skunk bare

  • @gracewu511
    @gracewu511 2 роки тому +1

    I love ❤️ it.

  • @nour3660
    @nour3660 3 роки тому

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

  • @月-m4x
    @月-m4x 6 років тому

    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

  • @gracewu511
    @gracewu511 2 роки тому +1

    Back in the 19th century.

  • @811-k5v
    @811-k5v 6 років тому +1

    How did she die!!???

    • @noname13years62
      @noname13years62 4 роки тому

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

  • @danr1920
    @danr1920 3 роки тому

    What did she die from?

  • @caesar7734
    @caesar7734 3 роки тому

    I was expecting a recreation of what she looked like

  • @boballende
    @boballende 6 років тому

    Excellent!

  • @pizzapizza247
    @pizzapizza247 2 роки тому

    That's kinda creepy.

  • @Slash11512
    @Slash11512 4 роки тому

    How did she die?

  • @acdb-4145
    @acdb-4145 6 років тому

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

    • @skunkbear
      @skunkbear  6 років тому +1

      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.

  • @hersv
    @hersv 6 років тому

    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.

  • @absolutenutter1007
    @absolutenutter1007 6 років тому +1

    Wow, that’s Erie.....
    I’ll leave now.

  • @axierogaming4854
    @axierogaming4854 3 роки тому

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

  • @dominiquiedoe5756
    @dominiquiedoe5756 Рік тому

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

  • @InJusticeAustralia
    @InJusticeAustralia 2 роки тому

    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.

  • @kidsvlogs112
    @kidsvlogs112 2 роки тому

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

  • @willemvandebeek
    @willemvandebeek 6 років тому

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

    • @skunkbear
      @skunkbear  6 років тому +6

      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
      @willemvandebeek 6 років тому

      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. :-/

  • @GDXdominator
    @GDXdominator 4 роки тому

    it was probably the janitor who complained about his job.

  • @Moosh_
    @Moosh_ 4 роки тому

    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

  • @grunglr
    @grunglr 6 років тому

    Interesting...

  • @hardikvora788
    @hardikvora788 5 років тому

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

  • @pando4379
    @pando4379 6 років тому

    Ask for permsission to examine the skeleton first

  • @Nobody-dm2ol
    @Nobody-dm2ol 4 роки тому

    4:41 Why tf are you both holding it?

  • @pcbona
    @pcbona 5 років тому +1

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

  • @TheTitanic448
    @TheTitanic448 4 роки тому

    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

  • @canislunaticus
    @canislunaticus 6 років тому

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

  • @Popanimates
    @Popanimates 2 роки тому

    the skeleton appears

  • @echospace7347
    @echospace7347 4 роки тому

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

  • @TheEnabledDisabled
    @TheEnabledDisabled 6 років тому

    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.

  • @xiangliuthefox3071
    @xiangliuthefox3071 2 роки тому

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

  • @FoneysAdventures
    @FoneysAdventures 4 роки тому

    She looks like héctor

  • @sovietrussia2804
    @sovietrussia2804 6 років тому

    the bones say you killed a man

  • @emilyanu3721
    @emilyanu3721 6 років тому

    😱😱😱.... And i m from India 😶

  • @mr.computer7538
    @mr.computer7538 4 роки тому

    This sounds weird but what's it smell like?

  • @kalvon
    @kalvon 4 роки тому +1

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

  • @csagan-bh2qy
    @csagan-bh2qy 6 років тому

    Fun

  • @confusedwhale
    @confusedwhale 6 років тому

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

  • @-gemberkoekje-5547
    @-gemberkoekje-5547 6 років тому

    I geussed tibet

  • @vimulnath6325
    @vimulnath6325 6 років тому

    She was an Indian.

  • @doinosor6405
    @doinosor6405 6 років тому

    I thought race was a social construct

    • @vilukisu
      @vilukisu 6 років тому

      Racial categorization is.

    • @doinosor6405
      @doinosor6405 6 років тому

      I don't see a difference

    • @vilukisu
      @vilukisu 6 років тому

      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
      @doinosor6405 6 років тому

      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
      @vilukisu 6 років тому +1

      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

  • @meganrjones_6943
    @meganrjones_6943 6 років тому +2

    I say it’s wrong.

  • @1objection
    @1objection 6 років тому +4

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

  • @johannaweichsel3602
    @johannaweichsel3602 6 років тому +4

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

  • @TheSingtangpaScienceGuy
    @TheSingtangpaScienceGuy 5 років тому +1

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

  • @sabinecohen8369
    @sabinecohen8369 4 роки тому +1

    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.

  • @piplupcola
    @piplupcola 6 років тому +1

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

  • @1221crow
    @1221crow 2 роки тому

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

  • @Lilas.Duveteux
    @Lilas.Duveteux 3 роки тому

    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.

  • @csrb338
    @csrb338 3 роки тому

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

  • @1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564
    @1_glucose_biscuit_lifetime564 6 років тому +1

    Awesome work as always!

  • @chaffeyable
    @chaffeyable 3 роки тому

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

  • @Rhoadie1
    @Rhoadie1 6 років тому

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

  • @samirm
    @samirm 6 років тому +1

    awesome episode!

  • @crocogators
    @crocogators 6 років тому

    spooky scary skeletons

  • @zahidabhatti2784
    @zahidabhatti2784 4 роки тому

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

  • @Horny_Fruit_Flies
    @Horny_Fruit_Flies 6 років тому +1

    It doesn't matter what they would have wanted, because they're dead, and they are incapable of wanting or not wanting anything at all. Respect for the dead is only courtesy of the living relatives who may hold some emotional value for the bodies. I don't give a slightest fuck about what happens to my corpse.

  • @GludiusMaximus
    @GludiusMaximus 4 роки тому

    *Fertilizer*

  • @stanude
    @stanude 6 років тому

    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.

  • @jerrylim6722
    @jerrylim6722 6 років тому

    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.

  • @grymble
    @grymble 4 роки тому

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

  • @Repah
    @Repah 4 роки тому

    he kinda sounds like vsauce Michael

  • @darthvader6533
    @darthvader6533 6 років тому

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

  • @naineko8989
    @naineko8989 6 років тому

    FreAkY

  • @plink4861
    @plink4861 6 років тому

    Same thing at my school realy...