Inuit skulls to be sent home to Greenland by university

THE University of Liverpool is set to return 15 Inuit skulls to Greenland this year in a decolonisation drive.

A British collector took remains from Inuit tombs as anatomical “specimens” and gave them to the university in the early 20th century.

Greenland is set to pursue a policy of reclaiming any Inuit anatomical items from museums to re-inter them in line with traditional burial customs. The number of Inuit remains in British museums is not known.

The University of Liverpool told The Telegraph: “As part of the university’s ongoing commitment to addressing our colonial legacy, we contacted Greenland’s National Museum and Archives about a collection of human skulls with a view to repatriation.”

The Inuit are an Arctic population living across Canada and Greenland, which is home to about 50,000 of them and enjoys self-rule as an autonomous region under Danish sovereignty.

During the 19th and early 20th century, Inuit remains were removed from tombs for scientific study. On one occasion in 1897, an Inuit man was shipped to New York for observations before he died of tuberculosis and was dissected.

The remains were taken from rock tombs used by the Inuit at a time when modern science and an interest in phrenology created a demand for human bones from different races.

The British anthropologist J Brierley, about whom little is known, toured western Greenland in 1905. He took several skulls from Inuit tombs without the consent or knowledge of the local population.

In a 1906 account of his trip, he stressed how he had carefully avoided Danish graves on the island, which is governed indirectly by Denmark, to ensure he gathered “pure” Inuit “specimens”.

The skulls were given to the University of Liverpool shortly after the trip.

Greenland National Museum wants all Inuit remains to be placed in a planned memorial site.

Christian Koch Madsen, its deputy director, said there were “countless examples of Inuit human remains that have been taken out of Greenland.

“We are working to establish a storage and memorial site that will respect ancient burial practices but until then we try to make sure that we have legal ownership of the remains,” he said.

“Most often the communities from where the human remains were removed do not exist any more. These communities moved to the colonies or mission stations after 1721 or were depopulated by disease and famine.”