HONOLULU -- The sale of a human skull on eBay has angered a number of native Hawaiian groups.
A California seller who posted the ad this week claims the remains are of a Hawaiian warrior, dating back to the 1700s. Native American and ancient Hawaiian remains are protected under federal law. Selling those types of cultural skeletal remains is illegal.
For $12,500 you could buy what was described as a 200-year-old Hawaiian skull. Bidding was to run for 10 days, but the seller, an Irvine, Calif. Man, pulled the ad after Native Hawaiian groups complained.
"There's a lot of anger, particularly on Maui, where the remains were supposed to have originated," state Burial Council specialist Kanai Kapeliea said.
The seller claimed he personally discovered the skull as a teenager in the summer of 1969.
"He described the skull as a souvenir of his youth "The trafficking of human remains is culturally, morally and ethically and legally unacceptable," Kapeliea said.
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