Brazilian diplomats brought the remains back on 11 November 2026, after their removal in the 19th century. Researchers will seek to identify the individuals before burial.
Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has returned 2 skulls to Brazil after a four-year campaign. The remains had been outside Brazil since the 19th century and were used in racist eugenics studies at Harvard.
The individuals’ identities are unknown. The skulls are believed to have belonged to Africans or Afro-Brazilians, likely enslaved people, but those details have not been established conclusively. Brazilian researchers will examine the remains before burial.
The skulls’ existence became known in 2022. Brazilian researchers sought their return and said the process moved forward only after Brazil’s government became involved in late 2024, The Guardian said. Government official Carolina Dias dos Reis traveled to Boston to sign the agreement with Harvard. She said the return mattered for restoring dignity taken from the individuals in life and death.
Diplomats carried each skull on flights in a padded box inside a reinforced suitcase. Ceremonies welcomed the remains in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. At Rio’s National Museum, history professor and Candomblé cleric Ivanir dos Santos poured water on the ground as researchers received a suitcase. He said the act honored an ancestor whose memory remained alive, not merely a research object.
The skull returned to Salvador is believed to belong to a man who took part in an 1835 uprising in which African Muslims attempted to seize the city. US diplomat Gideon T Snow is believed to have sent the skull to Boston after the man died in a hospital. The Bahia Islamic Cultural Centre, which campaigned for its return, gave him the name Arakunrin, meaning brother in Yoruba; his historical identity remains unconfirmed.
The planned museum will occupy New Delhi’s former North and South Block offices. The government estimates the project will cost about $340 million.
Forensic anthropologists, specialists who study human remains, plan to use measurements and microscopic analysis to investigate the individuals’ sex and other identifying information. They will seek authorization for genetic or dating tests if necessary.
The skulls will not be displayed in museums or have their images released. Brazil’s government has pledged burial with funeral rites as soon as the identification process is complete.
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