16 human skulls were repatriated to Papua New Guinea by the Chau Chak Wing Museum in Sydney, Australia last week.
The ancestral remains were returned to six village communities, including Gorendu and Bilibil, in Madang province. The skulls were taken from the Rai Coast by Russian scientist Nickolai N. Miklouho-Maclay in 1876 through 1777 while he was on an expedition. The scientist noted in his journal at the time that the skulls were not exhumed and had been freely given.
Miklouho-Maclay aimed to prove that people of different races and ethnicities were the same as their caucasian counterparts, which was not prominently believed at the time, and wanted to study the anatomy of the skulls to do so.
In 1878, Miklouho-Maclay landed in Sydney, where he started working alongside naturalist William John Macleay. Macleay’s philanthropy lead to the establishment of Sydney University’s Macleay Museum in 1887. The remains were donated to the museum by Miklouho-Maclay’s widow in 1888. The Macleay Museum recently became part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2020.
Miklouho-Maclay’s great-great nephew made the discovery of these remains when visiting the Rai Coast and, after contacting locals, a request was made for their return.
“People are looking at [the repatriation] as a rebirth of their history, in some ways, and to think about those people and the wisdom of that time,” Chau Chak Wing Museum’s senior curator Jude Philp, who formally handed over the skulls, told the Art Newspaper.
The return was commemorated in ceremonies of song and dance, accompanied by roasted pigs, by locals. Philp and other dignitaries arrived in boats carrying the remains in special boxes.
“These ancestors were taken by Nickolai almost 150 years ago, to support his work promoting one shared humanity,” said Jack Simbou, a deputy secretary at Papua New Guinea’s Department for Community Development and Religion. “They departed the Rai Coast aboard a Russian Corvette and returned on a Boeing jet. Their journey spans time and distance and we extend gratitude to the Chau Chak Wing Museum for reuniting us.”
