ABSTRACT
Human remains of Australian origin collected by Berlin anatomist Wilhelm Krause (1833–1910) are taken as a case study to describe provenance research related to the recent return of such remains from Berlin to Australia. In 1897, Krause travelled to Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. He met many local academics who, between them, gave eight skulls and six skeletons for his collections. Provenance research included non-invasive anthropological investigation and historical research in German and Australian archives. Only in two cases was more detailed information available on the origins of these remains. In the other cases, it remains largely obscure how the remains were acquired locally. Research interest at the time was aimed at broad categories of ‘race’ rather than at individual fates, and a bad conscience of the collectors regarding their modes of acquisition may have added to the lack of documentation. It is suggested that provenance research can not only identify human remains and support their re-transformation from specimens into Ancestral Remains, but can also teach those in charge of collections about the history of their own institution and profession.
