South Seas expedition - Göttingen and Hamburg investigate human remains
The University of Göttingen and the Museum am Rothenbaum (MARKK) are working together to investigate the origin of human remains from formerly colonized areas. An initial two-year research project is dedicated to bones that were kept in the former Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg (now MARKK) between the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century as the "Anthropological Collection" and were handed over to the University of Göttingen in several stages after the department was dissolved in the early 1950s, as both institutions announced on Tuesday.
It is estimated that the "Anthropological Collection" contained bones of 1200 people from Palau, Micronesia, Samoa, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Australia, Namibia and Cameroon, among others.
According to the current state of knowledge, 57 human remains remain in the MARKK, which are now being examined together with the collections in Göttingen so that discussions can then begin about their repatriation. The project is funded by the German Lost Art Foundation.
"With the long overdue processing of these provenances, the MARKK is facing up to its historical responsibility," said Director Barbara Plankensteiner. "As soon as we can identify the human remains, we will begin discussions regarding their repatriation." The aim of the project is to reconstruct the acquisition contexts and transfer routes of the holdings as well as the circumstances of their transfer from Hamburg to the University of Göttingen.
"The reappraisal of our Göttingen holdings makes a significant contribution to the current discussion about the colonial heritage of university collections," said Metin Tolan, President of the University of Göttingen. As the University of Göttingen has received requests for the return of items from Australia, Palau and Namibia, the examination of these collections will be given priority.
MARK
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Source: www.stern.de
