The UG is open to the restitution of the skull of a Khoikhoi woman from the collection of Petrus Camper. The skull is currently kept in the University Museum’s storage facility.
The skull was identified a few months ago by researcher Paul Wolff Mitchell from the University of Amsterdam. He examined the provenance of human remains in the famous anatomist’s collection. Camper was a professor in Groningen between 1763 and 1773.
Cut off
Camper became known for his research on the ‘facial angle’, in which he categorised people according to their ‘national character’—research that was later misused to support racial theories. To this end, he collected skulls from people all over the world.
The skull of the Khoekhoe woman was sent to him in 1774 by his former student Hendrik Le Sueur, who was stationed as a surgeon in Cape Town at the time. ‘The learned Le Sueur wrote to me at the end of January 1774 that he […] had cut off the head of this elderly woman after her death and taken it with him’, Camper wrote. He also mentioned that he had made a drawing of the skull.
Wolff Mitchell was able to link this drawing to one of the skulls still held in the University Museum.
Official request
This has opened the door for possible restitution, says museum director Lars Hendrikman. ‘We initiated the provenance research ourselves and also took the step of informing the South African government of our discovery’, he says.
Whether restitution will indeed happen is still uncertain, says Hendrikman. First, South Africa must make an official request. ‘But we have made it clear that we have removed the woman’s remains from the public domain and are now preserving them with the utmost respect. Should South Africa decide to submit a restitution request, we will do everything we can to honour it.’
Ceremony
Before the skull was removed from the museum, Tauriq Jenkins, High Commissioner of the Goringhaicona Khoikhoi Indigenous Traditional Council, performed a ceremony last month.
Jenkins, who was in Groningen for a masterclass, is also a member of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). ‘It was a small ceremony in which the spirit of this woman was remembered and honoured’, Hendrikman explains.
Further research
The University Museum has also initiated provenance research into other human remains. However, Hendrikman does not expect other remains to be identified any time soon. ‘That’s due to the complexity of it’, he says. ‘But at the same time, the chance isn’t zero. And that’s why we are morally obliged to pursue it.’
The Camper collection is the focus of a new exhibition at the University Museum. UKrant will publish a feature article about it tomorrow.