The recent publication of the University of Edinburgh Revue of race and history drew attention to his “Salle du Skull”:: a collection Out of 1,500 human skulls bought for the study in the 19th century.
Craniometry, the study of skull measures, was largely taught in medical schools through Great Britain, Europe and the United States in the 19th and early 20th century.
Today, the harmful and racist foundations of the craniometry have been discredited. It has long been proven that the size and shape of the head have no impact on mental and behavioral features in individuals or groups.
In the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, however, thousands of skulls were raised to allow research and education in scientific racism. The edinburgh skull room is in no way unique.
Unlike phrenology, a popular theory that has linked personality traits to the bumps on the head, craniometry appreciated generalized scientific support in the 19th century because it revolved around the collection and statistics of the data.
In relation: What is the difference between race and ethnicity?
The craniometists measured the skulls and made the average of the results for different population groups. These data were used to classify people in breeds depending on the size and shape of the head. Craniometric evidence was used to explain why certain peoples were supposed to be more civilized and advanced than others.
The vast accumulation of data from the skulls called for victorian scientists who believed in Number objectivity. He also helped to validate racial prejudices by suggesting that the differences between peoples were innate and determined biologically.
Medical history
The study of skulls was at the heart of the development of 19th century anthropology. But before anthropology was taught in British universities, the supposed racial differences were studied by qualified anatomists to identify the tiny differences in the skeletons. The study of skulls has entered the university program in medical schools, and in particular through anatomy services.
For example, when Alexander Macister was appointed professor of anatomy in Cambridge in 1884, some of his first conferences were on “the types of race of the human skull”.
Macister annual report for 1892 in the Journalist at Cambridge University Described how he had increased the Cambridge skulls from 55 to 1,402 specimens. In 1899, he pointed out the gift of more than 1,000 ancient Egyptian skulls of the archaeologist Flinders Petrie. A large part of the macister skull collection remains hosted in the university Duckworth laboratorywhich was created in 1945.
As the prestige of craniometric research increased, the institutions had to compete for the cranial collections as they have on the market. The statistical accuracy depended on large series of skulls measured to produce representative “types”. This created an increased demand for human remains.
In 1880, the Royal College of Surgeons Bought 1,539 skulls of private collection of Joseph Barnard Davis. This was added to their existing cache of 1,018 skulls to create The largest in Britain Craniological collection. This collection was largely destroyed in 1941 when the college building was bombed during the Second World War. The remaining skulls are no longer held by the Royal College of Surgeons.
The University of Oxford’s natural history museum included rows of Crania in their Anatomical displays In the 19th century, as is the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manchester (the Faculty of Medicine was no longer on the same site). This investment in the skulls assured that racial researchers had enough equipment to study and use in their teaching.
The catalogs preserved by the universities of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century reveal not only the size of their collections of skulls, but also the origin of individual specimens.
Historical trauma
Some medical schools, Like EdinburghThe reused skulls bought by phrenological societies earlier in the century to improve their assets. Others, including Oxford, have made Use of skulls Helped by archaeologists to conduct racial research on the country’s past. This research I tried to trace the movements of the Celts, Normans, Saxons and Scandinavians through the British Islands.
However, because craniologists wanted to capture the extent of the racial variation, the skulls from abroad were particularly popular. Graduates in medicine from British universities published on the colonies Envoy of foreign bones to their former teachers.
In the search for my next book on the collections of skulls, I found that the Cambridge cranial register includes a skull sent by a former student stationed in India. He had picked it up from a cremation site in Bombay despite the indignation of people in mourning gathered. The serious cheeky rabulation and colonial violence were at the heart of the international network which provided the skull rooms of British universities.
The racist ideology that stimulated the skull collection 150 years ago was completely discredited. However, Some anthropologists Believe that these bones can still shed light on human origins, relationships and migration.
However, ethical factors are also also shaping institutional policies towards human remains. Oxford’s Pitt Riversm Museum has taken its sad “Recruited heads” Display outside 2020.
Increasingly, universities and museums have confronted historical injustices and intergenerational trauma perpetuated by their retention of human remains. Since the 1970s, Aboriginal groups around the world have launched campaigns to repatriate the bones of their ancestors. Research institutions have become increasingly reactive to these requests.
In London, the Royal College of Surgeons museum no longer presents the skeleton of Charles ByrneThe so-called “Irish giant”. Byrne had explicitly refused Consent to his remains to dissect and ride before his death in 1783.
The skulls in British universities bear witness to a vast theft of human remains of almost all the territories of the earth. However, they have the potential to become powerful symbols of reconciliation if their discriminatory stories are recognized and corrected through their return.
A Duckworth Laboratory spokesman, University of Cambridge, said:
“We, like many institutions in the United Kingdom, face heritage and practice contrary to ethics to assemble the collections we have on the guard. The Duckworth collection and the Department of Archeology are dedicated to promoting an open dialogue and the construction of robust relations with traditional communities and other stakeholders. This commitment is considered an integral part of a continuous objective, but not knowledge, perspectives, perspectives and cultural values. To enrich contemporary academic and cultural understanding by a respectful and equal partnership.
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