Precarious Provenance – Human remains from Africa’s colonial past before 1919 in scientific collections of Baden-Württemberg
- Osteologische Sammlung der Universität Tübingen
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment der Universität Tübingen
- Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart
- Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe
- Linden-Museum Stuttgart
Dr. Fabienne Huguenin
E-Mailfabienne.huguenin@uni-tuebingen.de
Annika Vosseler M.Sc.
E-Mailannika.vosseler@uni-tuebingen.de
Numerous human remains are kept in the scientific collections of Baden-Württemberg as research or educational objects or for display. They are e.g. part of natural history, ethnology, archaeology, osteology or anthropology collections. The scientific exchange for researching human remains as well as the actual exchange or purchase of skeletons, skulls or other body parts took place across such institutions. The final report of the project „Schwieriges Erbe (Difficult Heritage) of the Linden Museum mentions, for example, the donation of skulls and bones to the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, at that time called the „Königliches Naturalienkabinett (Royal Natural History Cabinet). This is just one case that illustrates the practice in the past. However, the exact procedures and persons involved have mostly been forgotten. Likewise, active knowledge about the communities of origin is lacking, as only in a few cases such information was documented when human remains were taken over into the collections.
In our joint project, we are researching the human remains from collections in Baden-Württemberg that probably date back to before 1919 and originate from Africa. According to initial estimates, there are about 137 human remains, but often only rudimentary evidence is available, so that the exact number cannot yet be named. For example, due to frequent blanket designations such as „non-European, it can be assumed that some of the human remains originate from other regions of the world.
The aim of the cooperative project is to determine the origin and clarify the routes of origin of human remains now in collections in Baden-Württemberg as a basis for repatriation to the respective source community. Historical data will be collected, especially in the area of network research, which will be made available for further investigations. The potential for knowledge transfer resulting from the historically existing connection of scientific institutions in southwest Germany also comes into play.
(c) Museum der Universität Tübingen MUT