STOCKHOLM — With a solemn ceremony in Stockholm’s antiquities museum, Sweden marked the return of 22 skulls looted from a native Hawaiian community more than a century ago.
The symbolic ceremony Saturday — attended by guests from Hawaii and the Nordic countries’ own indigenous Sami population — was part of Sweden’s increased efforts to return indigenous remains collected by scientists across the world.
The Swedish government in 2005 ordered its museums to search through their collections. It has since returned more than 20 human remains, mainly to Australia.
The Hawaiian skulls had been returned privately earlier Saturday so that the Hawaiian delegates could perform a ritual according to traditional customs.
Museum director Lars Amreus said he hoped the return would help “fulfill the spiritual circle” of those whose graves had been violated by the Swedish scientists.
“I cannot adequately express the thankfulness . . . for a very, very worthy endeavor, and that is to greet our ancestors and accompany them home,” said Hawaiian delegation head William Aila.
