Penn Museum Apologizes For 'Unethical Possession Of Human Remains'

Penn Museum Apologizes For 'Unethical Possession Of Human Remains' Enlarge this image toggle caption R. Perez/Penn Museum R. Perez/Penn Museum Dozens of human skulls of Black people — some hundreds of years old — will be returned to their communities of origin for reburial, according to a commitment by the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. "The Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania apologize for the unethical possession of human remains in the Morton Collection," wrote Christopher Woods, who became the new director of Penn Museum on April 1. Sponsor Message The Morton Cranial Collection includes nearly 900 human skulls obtained during the early 19th century by a Philadelphia scientist named Dr. Samuel Morton, who sought to determine racial differences. The origins of the collection, which was expanded after Morton's death in 1851, has never been secret: during a public lecture in 2011, Penn Museum Keeper of Physical Anthropology Janet Monge called Morton a "flaming racist."