Two human skulls, carried home after more than a century and a half abroad, have returned to Brazil, a country that received more enslaved Africans than any other. One is believed to belong to a man who fought in the 1835 uprising in Salvador; the other, perhaps a woman's, was taken from the streets of Rio. Both were once pulled from the ground and handled by a Harvard-linked expedition in the service of racist science, and their return marks a belated act of accounting that a nation undertakes with its own violent past. Their names are largely lost, and so the country now sets out to recover
Two Skulls Taken by Harvard for Eugenics Research Returned to Brazil, Including a Man Linked to the 1835 Malê Revolt
Two people's remains were taken from Brazil in the 19th century and used in racist eugenics studies, with their identities largely unknown.
Two skulls came home in padded boxes inside reinforced suitcases
Mark
Why does this return matter beyond the two individuals?
Mimi
Because the way they were taken is part of the story. Both skulls were removed in the 1800s and used in racist eugenics research, and Brazil says it wants to restore a dignity taken from these people in life and in death.
Luke
Let's be careful about who they were. How much is actually established?
Mimi
Very little for certain. The Salvador skull is believed to be a man from the 1835 revolt, and a US diplomat, Gideon T Snow, is believed to have sent it to Boston. Believed is the operative word.
Luke
And the name Arakunrin?
Mark
That came from the Bahia Islamic Cultural Centre. It means brother in Yoruba, so it's a name given by campaigners, not a recorded one.
Luke
Right. And the Rio skull is even less certain. The woman theory rests on features Harvard researchers described, like size, and officials relayed it secondhand.
Mimi
Bruno Veras's cemetery theory comes from cross-referencing diaries, letters and maps. It's a historian's reasoning, not a confirmed finding.
Mark
What happens next?
Mimi
Brazilian forensic anthropologists will measure the skulls and run microscopic analyses, and may seek permission for genetic or dating tests.
Luke
Then the honest ending is that we don't yet know who they were, and burial waits on that work.
El Pulso
- Two skulls, sealed in padded boxes inside reinforced suitcases, crossed commercial flights as diplomats guarded them home.
- A four-year campaign pressed against Harvard's Peabody Museum, with fears that tensions between Trump and Lula could stall the return.
- One skull is believed to belong to a rebel from the 1835 Salvador revolt, a man whose death followed the killing of dozens of insurgents.
- Researchers in Brazil are racing to identify the remains through forensic measurement, with genetic and dating tests possibly to follow.
- Funeral rites are set to follow identification, and the skulls will remain hidden from museums and cameras, returning them to privacy and ancestral care.
Two human skulls, carried home after more than a century and a half abroad, have returned to Brazil, a country that received more enslaved Africans than any other. One is believed to belong to a man who fought in the 1835 uprising in Salvador; the other, perhaps a woman's, was taken from the streets of Rio. Both were once pulled from the ground and handled by a Harvard-linked expedition in the service of racist science, and their return marks a belated act of accounting that a nation undertakes with its own violent past. Their names are largely lost, and so the country now sets out to recover who they were before laying them to rest.
On Wednesday, two human skulls that had been outside Brazil since the nineteenth century came home. Each travelled in a padded box inside a reinforced suitcase, carried by Brazilian diplomats on commercial flights, and each was received in a quiet ceremony, one in Salvador and one in Rio de Janeiro.
The skulls are believed to belong to Africans or Afro-Brazilians. One left Salvador about 190 years ago, and the other left Rio roughly 160 years ago. Both ended up at Harvard's Peabody Museum, where they were used in racist eugenics studies. Their existence was revealed in 2022, and the process only moved forward after Brazil's government became involved in late 2024.
The Salvador skull is believed to have belonged to a man who took part in the 1835 revolt, the largest urban slave uprising in Brazilian history. The Bahia Islamic Cultural Centre has given him the name Arakunrin, meaning brother in Yoruba. The second person is less known; the only early record describes an individual exhumed in Rio in the 1860s, and Harvard researchers suggested the skull may be a woman's.
At the Rio ceremony, the Candomblé cleric Ivanir dos Santos poured water on the ground as the suitcase was received, calling it a ritual act. For his community, the person is still an ancestor. "This is not a research object," he said.
Researchers will now try to learn who these two people were, using measurements and microscopic analysis, with genetic or dating tests if authorised. The skulls will not be displayed or photographed, and the government has pledged to bury them with funeral rites once identification is complete.
On Wednesday, two human skulls that had been outside Brazil since the 19th century came home. Each traveled in a padded box inside a reinforced suitcase, carried on commercial flights by Brazilian diplomats. They were received in subdued ceremonies in two cities: Salvador, the capital of Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro.
The skulls are believed to have belonged to Africans or Afro-Brazilians, in the country that received more enslaved Africans than any other during the transatlantic slave trade. One was taken from Salvador about 190 years ago. The other left Rio roughly 160 years ago. Both ended up at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, where they were used in racist eugenics studies. Their existence was revealed in 2022, and Brazilian researchers began asking for their return. They described a drawn-out process that moved forward only after the Brazilian government became involved in late 2024. Carolina Dias dos Reis, a government official, traveled to Boston to sign the agreement with Harvard. In recent months, there were concerns that Donald Trump's sometimes hostile behavior toward Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, could derail the repatriation. It did not.
The Salvador skull is believed to have belonged to a man who took part in the 1835 revolt, the most significant urban slave uprising in Brazilian history. About 600 African Muslims tried to seize control of what was then the country's second most important city. Police defeated them and killed 70 rebels. The man died at a hospital, and a US diplomat, Gideon T Snow, is believed to have sent his skull to Boston. The Bahia Islamic Cultural Centre, one of the most active campaigners for its return, has named him Arakunrin, which means brother in Yoruba.
Less is known about the second person. The only early record describes an individual exhumed from the streets of Rio de Janeiro in the 1860s. Brazilian officials said on Wednesday that Harvard researchers had told them some features suggest the remains may be a woman's: the skull was smaller than an adult man's but larger than a child's. Bruno Veras, a historian who closely followed the repatriation, cross-referenced diaries, letters and maps of the city. He believes the skull may have come from a cemetery for newly arrived Africans who died during the Atlantic crossing or soon after landing. The person believed to have carried it to the US was Walter Hunnewell, a student from a wealthy Boston family, who was part of an expedition led by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz. Agassiz was in Brazil trying to document physical types to support his racist theories. "To steal a skull and take it to another country was violent even in the context of racist research," Veras said.
At the ceremony in Rio, Ivanir dos Santos, a history professor and a cleric of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, poured a glass of water on the ground as researchers received the suitcase. He called it a ritual act, saying remains of ancestors cannot be handled without reverence. "This is not a research object," he said; for his community, the person is still alive in memory as an ancestor.
Reis tied the return to the present. Slavery was abolished in 1888, yet Afro-Brazilians, who make up the majority of the population, sit at the bottom of every socioeconomic indicator. They dominate the statistics on hunger, poverty, gender-based violence and homicide victims, whether killed by criminals or by police. Brazil, she said, needs to recover its past, however violent, to understand the scars of structural racism today. Irina Feisthauer Silveira, a diplomat who carried one of the skulls, said the history of slavery cannot be undone, but acknowledging past mistakes with transparency is a first step toward a more equal and less violent future.
Researchers from Brazilian universities will now try to learn who these two people were. Forensic anthropologists will confirm sex and other details through measurements and microscopic analysis. The Salvador skull is complete; the Rio skull is missing its jaw. If necessary, they will seek authorization for genetic or dating tests. The skulls will not be displayed in museums and their images will not be released. The government has pledged to bury them with funeral rites as soon as identification is finished.
Citas Notables
This is not a research object; for us, that person is still alive in memory and as our ancestor.— Ivanir dos Santos, history professor and Candomblé cleric
It's very important to restore the dignity of these people, which was taken from them in life and in death.— Carolina Dias dos Reis, Brazilian government official
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