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Over a period of three years, researchers from the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin have been working with colleagues from the countries of origin to research and recontextualise the provenance of human remains from West Africa. The museum's collection contains a total of 523 human skulls with a colonial connection, the research of which was funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). The region of origin of a significant number of these skulls has been narrowed down to such an extent that they can be returned to individual communities if the countries concerned so wish. The extension of the project until 31 December 2024, which has now been approved by the BKM, will enable the research findings to be communicated directly to the affected villages and communities.

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media: "Human remains looted during the colonial era do not belong in German museums. The way we deal with these looted objects today is a measure of the sincerity of our engagement with the colonial past, especially for the societies of origin. I therefore appeal to all those responsible for collections to work together with the countries of origin to research the provenance of human remains in their collections, to facilitate their repatriation and thus create the necessary transparency for new partnerships."

"For the SPK, the restitution of human remains to the countries concerned is the clear goal of provenance research. I am very pleased that - following the pilot project on German East Africa - we have now also been able to make such great progress in West Africa. Of course, we are also prepared to make immediate restitution here," said Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK.

The provenance research on the human skulls was and is being funded by the BKM with a total of around 903,000 euros. In addition to the comprehensive archival research in Germany, field research in Togo and Cameroon was essential, as this was the only way to verify the information in the surviving archive documents and enable the researchers to benefit from local knowledge. It turned out, for example, that place names had been recorded incorrectly and that settlement sites of the time no longer exist today.

The knowledge gained from the research will now be used to initiate a network with the communities from which the human remains originate. This will build on the experience gained from the pilot project on German East Africa from 2017 to 2021. When communicating the results of this previous research project in Tanzania and Rwanda, for example, it was shown that mediating measures facilitate access to the research results. Now the results of the provenance research will be communicated personally by the project team in the villages primarily affected. At the same time, local mediation will empower the communities to articulate their wishes and communicate them to the respective governments.

A comprehensive publication in French is due to appear at the beginning of next year and will make the research results accessible to a broad public.

Information on human remains at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History

The human bones examined are part of the anthropological collection of around 7,700 skulls that the SPK took over from the Charité in 2011 in extremely poor condition. Before the provenance research began, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History had initially cleaned and conserved them at great expense. Many of them come from the so-called "S Collection", which Felix von Luschan collected from almost all parts of the world at the turn of the century. Other bones come from the skull collection of the former anatomical institute of the Charité, as well as from other smaller collections. After the First World War, interest in the anthropological collections waned considerably and they gradually fell into oblivion.

As part of a pilot project, the provenances of over 1,100 skulls from the former colony of German East Africa were analysed at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History from 2017 to 2021. 904 skulls could be assigned to areas in what is now Rwanda, 197 to Tanzania and 27 to Kenya. Seven could not be matched. The results were published in the book "Human Remains from the Former German Colony of East Africa", edited by Bernhard Heeb and Charles Mulinda Kabwete. The provenance research of the remains from East Africa was followed by the follow-up project on West Africa in 2021.

Press photos:https://www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder.html