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SPK returns human remains and grave goods to Hawai'i
Press release from 04/11/2023
A few days ago, the SPK handed over four iwi kūpuna (human remains of Hawaiian descent) and seven moepū (grave goods) to Hui Iwi Kuamo'o, an organisation of Hawaiian First Nations representing the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). The human remains had been in the care of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History of the National Museums in Berlin since 2011. The grave goods had been part of the Ethnological Museum's collection for around 135 years.
At the end of 2021, the SPK Foundation Board decided to repatriate both human remains and grave goods to Hawai'i. As a first step, 32 iwi kūpuna were restituted to Hui Iwi Kuamo'o on 11 February 2022, whose members travelled to Berlin to accompany the ancestors to their homeland. After a private ceremony, a festive public handover ceremony took place in the museum. Further human remains and grave goods, including a spear, two calabashes and a stone disc, followed in a second handover ceremony.
Hermann Parzinger: "We would like to return human remains from colonial contexts if the respective countries and societies of origin are known and wish to repatriate them. And of course this also applies to grave goods if there is a context of injustice, such as clandestine removal. I am delighted that the cooperation with the representatives of the OHA for the restitution is working so well."
"Today's repatriation is the result of many years of co-operation and coordination between the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo and the OHA. It is the embodiment of the power of laulima (collaboration)," said OHA Board Chair Carmen "Hulu" Lindsey.
Based on the inscriptions "Sandwich Islands" and "Hawaii", the three skulls and the skull calotte are clearly attributable to the Pacific archipelago and could now be returned. Despite thorough provenance research, however, it was not possible to attribute the human remains to a specific site or burial cave.
The circumstances surrounding the appropriation of the grave goods, which were part of the Ethological Museum's collection, also spoke in favour of their return. They come from the collection of Eduard Arning, who, according to his statements, took them from burial caves in Hawaiʻi around 1885. Arning reports in his notes that he entered the caves secretly and expressly avoided being seen by Hawaiians, who would certainly have disapproved of his actions. Burial sites are specially protected places everywhere and at all times, which are particularly important for the relatives of the buried. The clandestine removal of the objects from these burial contexts creates a context of injustice that requires the objects to be returned to Hawaiʻi.
"The world approaches a higher level of understanding when mutual humanity is respected and it leads to the return of ancestral remains and their grave goods that were stolen from their original burial sites during the colonial era," said Edward Halealoha Ayau, Executive Director of Hui Iwi Kuamo'o. "Today, humanity is winning out, mainly thanks to the forward-looking policy of Prof Parzinger and the SPK Board of Trustees."
The repatriation of the iwi kupuna and grave goods from the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin is part of a larger initiative by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to repatriate human remains from international collections. Under the direction of Halealoha Ayau from Hui Iwi Kuamo'o, two small teams will be deployed to repatriate a total of 53 iwi and seven moepū on behalf of the OHA.
Halealoha Ayau, Ulu Cashman, Dane Maxwell and Kona Wong were commissioned to trace the ancestors of two Berlin institutions, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie Ethnologie und Urgeschichte. The iwi kūpuna from Stuttgart, Freiburg and Bremen will repatriate Mana Caceres, Kalehua Caceres, Starr Kalāhiki, Nicole Nāone and Kaipo Torco.
The repatriations funded by the communities also provide the opportunity to train the next generation of Hawai'i's First Nations in dealing with iwi kupuna and their repatriation.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs: www.oha.org
Media Contact:
Alice Malepeai Silbanuz, Communications Director
E-mail: alices@oha.org
Phone: +1 (808) 285-7586
