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Comment by moi2388 | Hacker News Reader

Depending on the time period, anyone between the Egyptians, Hyksos, Nubians, Libyans, Persians, Assyrians and the Romans, and indeed the British, since they all at one point were the official rulers of Egypt.

I have no idea why citizens of modern Egypt, which didn’t get formed until 1953, would be more entitled to up to 3500 year old artifacts more than the then actual owners (agree with the means or not)

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And in fact modern Egyptians are more Arabs — the Copts are closer to, but still very far from, the ancient Egyptians.

Therein lies the crux. In all these srories imperialism is a western power only thing. Meanwhile the region is constantly going back and forth in several imperialist waves. There is still imperialism active in dafur.

Mummies are maybe a bad example, as one could argue, that bodies should be by their grave.

Or a perfect example - because there are extremely few cultures and circumstances in which very old human graves are moved when the government or rulers changed?

Graves generally aren't permanent; most plots are leased for a fixed term. What is done with the caskets and contents thereafter varies widely.

Is that really how pyramids worked? King Tut in the pyramid for 60 years then to the Nile his bones?

It sort of worked like that, though that wasn't the intention? By which I mean, as I understand it, all the pyramids were robbed a very long time ago, but Tutankhamun's tomb survived undisturbed until the 20th century because it wasn't in a pyramid.

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