People on display: a reaction to an exhibit

Today I had the opportunity to take a few minutes to wander around the Smithsonian's natural history museum. The exhibits, were incredible and I plan on returning as soon as I can to stay more than 45 minutes, however I found myself struck to the core when I happened to cross paths which the Egyptian exhibit.  If you didn't know, Egypt is working hard to re-claim objects, artists, mummies and the like that were taken without Egyptian consent during the colonial periods and the exploration era of Egypt. The exhibit in the Smithsonian was small, a bit of a hallway and a room, connecting the Dinosaurs to the bug room. In the hall way, in glass cases are three mummies. Two men, and a child. All in their own cases kept with object in the tombs, with little info plaques and pictures. My stomach sunk, and I felt sick. Looking at these people, or rather what is left of three people lying in cases having tourists gawking, yelling and pointing. I felt a disease that I haven't felt often before, but it was a sense of ' I don't belong here' I am not Egyptian, I am not a scientist. I am an interested student, but I am looking at dead people. Human beings that once lived, thought, made decisions , ate, drank, slept, had relationship issues, daily frustrations and who probably gawked and strange sights too. These were people, and here smacked between two exhibits that attracted tons of people they were laid and being stared at and having pictures taken. The din of exclamations from the entire area was full of disgust at dried flesh and dead people and the excitement of little kids squeezing and just general alive sounding museum noise. This somehow seemed disrespectful to me; maybe it was that these bodies were on display at all. In a museum, not where they belonged- in an Egyptian museum at the very least. But maybe more so the realisation that so many of the people there were experiencing this exhibit- and further more viewing these people's bodies with such a loud and gawking manor. These are the bodies of people. Please. Have some respect. It just felt wrong.