Provenance and history of the Friedenstein Foundation Gotha's collection of Indonesian skulls

An international team led by Adrian Linder, ethnologist and associated researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern, investigated the provenance of a total of 41 human skulls in the Gotha collection. 33 are still present and could be examined in more detail by osteoanthropologist Kristina Scheelen-Nováček M.A. Through meticulous research in inventory books, catalogues and contemporary documents, in Dutch and Indonesian newspapers, by combing through the ducal correspondence and with the help of archives and repositories of other European museums and libraries and in personal exchanges with other researchers, Linder was able to shed light on a little-known chapter of colonial history. The researchers also took a close look at the history of the collection and documented how objects changed their status over the course of their history depending on how they were viewed and by whom.