US returns skulls of indigenous people to Brazil

Harvard University has returned to Brazil two human skulls, which were removed from the country in the XIX century.

The return of the remains was made possible thanks to the efforts of Brazilian diplomats and years of negotiations between the countries.

In the XIX century, expeditions led by Professor Louis Agassiz took two skulls from Brazil. In the United States, they were used for research related to racial theories and eugenics.

One of the skulls, taken some 190 years ago from El Salvador, probably belonged to a man who died during a slave revolt in 1835. The second skull, taken from Rio de Janeiro about 160 years ago, is believed to have belonged to a woman of African descent.

The skulls have long been kept in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, and they became known to the general public only in 2022. Negotiations on the return of the skulls lasted four years, and finally, thanks to the intervention of the Brazilian government, the remains were returned to their homeland.

The National Museum in Rio de Janeiro and the Federal University of Bahia held mourning ceremonies dedicated to the return of ancestral skulls. Brazilian scientists will try to establish the identities of these people, after which the remains are planned to be solemnly buried.

In September, the Oxford University Museum said it would return the remains of 39 people seized from the Naga community in northeastern India during British colonial rule.