A SCOTTISH university is reportedly negotiating the return of skulls in its possession to Africa.
As reported by The Scotsman, Edinburgh University has held “quite a few” talks with both individuals and governments regarding the return of items held in its Anatomical Museum.
It currently holds 185 skulls brought to the capital from the continent as a result of colonial activity, forming part of a collection of almost 2000 skeletal artifacts.
PhD student Ash Charlton, who has studied the skulls in question, said that several were either stolen or “taken coercively without consent”.
Some of the Anatomical Museum’s collection originally came from the Edinburgh Phrenological Society, with phrenology being a discredited study of skull shapes and sizes to determine character, intelligence, and racial differences.
During a Royal Society of Edinburgh event, the Scotsman reports that Charlton said a number of the skulls were “somewhat if not entirely anonymous”, with only four linked to verified humans, though two of these are thought to be false.
The Anatomical Museum has previously repatriated several remains from its 12,000-strong collection, including the return of a skull in 1947 to what is now Sri Lanka, and the 2023 return of remains of four tribal warriors from Tawain killed around 150 years ago.
Malcolm MacCallum, a curator and researcher at the museum, said during the same event that delays in repatriation tend to come from people “trying to think what they want to do with their ancestors”.
"We find every single repatriation is different, and the African potential repatriation will be no different from that. We just have to take it on a case-by-case basis when it comes in,” he said.
MacCallum also gave credit to Charlton’s research on the skulls, saying it would “facilitate a much easier repatriation” when the time comes.
He also reportedly told the event that Edinburgh University was in discussions with a range of communities and that there would be many more repatriations in the coming years.
A spokesperson for the university told The Scotsman: “We are committed to learning lessons from our past, including addressing our colonial legacy and its contemporary impact.
“We work with many communities around the world to engage with our collections and facilitate the return of remains and artefacts.”
