Ideas change everything

Why museums are returning cultural treasures

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Chip Colwell |

TEDxMileHigh

• July 2017

Archaeologist and curator Chip Colwell collects artifacts for his museum, but he also returns them to where they came from. In a thought-provoking talk, he shares how some museums are confronting their legacies of stealing spiritual objects and pillaging ancient graves -- and how they're bridging divides with communities who are demanding the return of their cultural treasures.

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Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Archaeologist and curator Chip Colwell collects artifacts for his museum, but he also returns them to where they came from. In a thought-provoking talk, he shares how some museums are confronting their legacies of stealing spiritual objects and pillaging ancient graves -- and how they're bridging divides with communities who are demanding the return of their cultural treasures.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMileHigh, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

About the speaker

Archaeologist, museum curator

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Chip Colwell is an archaeologist who tries to answer the tangled question: Who owns the past?

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Chip Colwell | University of Chicago Press (2017)

Chip Colwell - *Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America's Culture*

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMileHigh, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Chip Colwell: Why museums are returning cultural treasures | TED Talk