Let’s be honest here, as much as we would like to think of all archeologists as these perfectly moral beings that only care about the discoveries and nothing more, the truth of the matter is that there is a lot of money involved in these findings, and a lot of the times these explorers are sanctioned by rich individuals to make the discoveries and never release the information to the general public, selling the information rights directly to their employees instead.
It is true in many cases. However, some artifacts are not properly documented or released to the public.
This is what happened with the Nampa doll. It was a tiny figurine made thousands of years ago. It was first discovered in 1889 in Idaho during excavation when the drill suddenly couldn’t penetrate the ground anymore. The clay figurine that looks like a woman was quickly found and sold to the highest bidder.
The doll is rediscovered almost 90 years later by professor Albert A. Wright, who was the first to verify its authenticity in 1979. But the doll disappeared again shortly after that incident. Some have speculated that it was sold back to the family that originally bought it in 1889, while others simply blame this on academia’s dismissive attitude towards the artifact which led to its eventual loss.
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