Objective: This study attempts to estimate the ancestry and sex of five unknown human crania curated by the Anthropology Department at Bloomsburg University. The fallout caused by curation and public display of human skulls in the Morton Collection, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology prompted the Bloomsburg University administration to direct the Anthropology Department to assess the affiliation of these crania that had no clear origins.

Objective: This study attempts to estimate the ancestry and sex of five unknown human crania curated by the Anthropology Department at Bloomsburg University. The fallout caused by curation and public display of human skulls in the Morton Collection, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology prompted the Bloomsburg University administration to direct the Anthropology Department to assess the affiliation of these crania that had no clear origins.

Method: A MicroScribe G-2X digitizer was used to collect coordinate data from osteometric landmarks, which were simultaneously recorded by an analytical software called ThreeSkull (3Skull) and subsequently imported into the FORDISC 3.1 discriminant functions computer program for processing. Result: Cranium A12022 is that of a Japanese female with a posterior probability of 0.572; cranium A22022 is that of a Hispanic/Guatemalan male with posterior probabilities of 0.523 and 0.679; cranium A42022 is that of a Guatemalan/Hispanic male with posterior probabilities of 0.48 and 0.679; cranium A52022 is that of an American Indian male with a posterior probability of 0.845; and cranium A62022 is that of a Chinese (Atayal) male with a posterior probability of 0.911.

Objective: This study attempts to estimate the ancestry and sex of five unknown human crania curated by the Anthropology Department at Bloomsburg University. The fallout caused by curation and public display of human skulls in the Morton Collection, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology prompted the Bloomsburg University administration to direct the Anthropology Department to assess the affiliation of these crania that had no clear origins.

Method: A MicroScribe G-2X digitizer was used to collect coordinate data from osteometric landmarks, which were simultaneously recorded by an analytical software called ThreeSkull (3Skull) and subsequently imported into the FORDISC 3.1 discriminant functions computer program for processing. Result: Cranium A12022 is that of a Japanese female with a posterior probability of 0.572; cranium A22022 is that of a Hispanic/Guatemalan male with posterior probabilities of 0.523 and 0.679; cranium A42022 is that of a Guatemalan/Hispanic male with posterior probabilities of 0.48 and 0.679; cranium A52022 is that of an American Indian male with a posterior probability of 0.845; and cranium A62022 is that of a Chinese (Atayal) male with a posterior probability of 0.911. Conclusion: For the cranium classified as American Indian, further research will continue to uncover details of the original acquisition with the eventual goal of repatriating it to the lineal American Indian descendants for reburial.For the cranium classified as American Indian, further research will continue to uncover details of the original acquisition with the eventual goal of repatriating it to the lineal American Indian descendants for reburial. A MicroScribe G-2X digitizer was used to collect coordinate data from osteometric landmarks, which were simultaneously recorded by an analytical software called ThreeSkull (3Skull) and subsequently imported into the FORDISC 3.1 discriminant functions computer program for processing.

Result: Cranium A12022 is that of a Japanese female with a posterior probability of 0.572; cranium A22022 is that of a Hispanic/Guatemalan male with posterior probabilities of 0.523 and 0.679; cranium A42022 is that of a Guatemalan/Hispanic male with posterior probabilities of 0.48 and 0.679; cranium A52022 is that of an American Indian male with a posterior probability of 0.845; and cranium A62022 is that of a Chinese (Atayal) male with a posterior probability of 0.911.

Conclusion: For the cranium classified as American Indian, further research will continue to uncover details of the original acquisition with the eventual goal of repatriating it to the lineal American Indian descendants for reburial.

In the latter part of the 20th century, indigenous and marginalized peoples spoke out against the continued ownership of their biological and cultural materials by U.S. state and federal agencies and institutions. This push culminated with enacting into law the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation legislation to address long-standing claims by federally recognized tribes that human remains and cultural artifacts-unlawfully removed from precontact, post-contact, former, or current Native American homelands-should be returned to lineal descendants for reburial.

With the addition of a stiff penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment and a $100,000 fine for violation of this law, state and federal institutions are complying. While a hefty fine is a great motivating factor in complying with this law, scientists in these institutions are largely motivated by shame because they know that, historically, documented human skeletal collections were built with the bodies of impoverished and marginalized peoples, and these scientists want to do the right thing by repatriating the remains despite their importance in forensic anthropological research, education, and training in the United States. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd in police custody in the United States, the history of racial injustice perpetrated by 19th- and early 20th century scientists re-emerged with a vengeance. These scientists focused on scientifically “proving” the superiority of the White race over other races by measuring skull size, and in the wake of Floyd’s death, academics and activists turned their attention to the Morton human skeletal collection (formerly on display at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) as part of this history-and current perpetuation-of racism. The Morton Collection consists of more than 1,300 skulls, approximately 900 of which were acquired by Philadelphia-based physician Samuel George Morton during the 1830s and 1840s; some of these belonged to enslaved individuals.

Now, as in 1991, when more than 400 individuals were reburied after New York City construction uncovered the largest-known African American burial ground in the United States, academics and activists are advocating for an African American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The repatriation of Native and African American cultural and biological remains is influencing indigenous and marginalized peoples in other parts of the world to fight for protection of their ancestral remains.