Project launched to investigate the origin of human skulls
News from 08/02/2017
For the next two years, the SPK is studying the exact origin of about a thousand skulls from the former colony of German East Africa. The Gerda Henkel Foundation is funding the project.
Since 2011, the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) has been taking care of anthropological collections containing human remains, which it took over from the Charité. The majority of items in them come from former German colonies in Africa and the Pacific region.
A pilot project has now been launched to investigate the origin of about a thousand skulls from the former colony of German East Africa in detail. The Gerda Henkel Foundation is providing substantial funds. Research into the provenance of the bones is urgently needed in order to decide on the appropriate treatment of them. This does not exclude the possibility of returning them.