Corpse fetishism is spreading to Europe. The inhabitants of an island demanded "return" of skulls of medieval monks, which they claimed had been "stolen" by academics doing research.

The worst part is, the university which had them gave in to the demand.

If this sort of fetishism were applied to older remains — as some wish to do — all our remnants of Neanderthal humans would be lost to science, each bone "returned" to someone or other.

Imagine if that had happened 30 years ago. We would have been denied the chance to determine that the Neanderthals were among our ancestors and were the same species as we.

The only way human remains can contribute to the world, to the good of present and future humans, is by being studied scientifically. The old bones have more to teach us. We should not let anyone's fetishism interfere.