Madagascar has held a solemn ceremony to mark the return of three ancestral skulls taken to France over a century ago, including one believed to belong to King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was executed by French forces in 1897.
The remains were officially handed over by France in Paris on August 27, the first repatriation under a 2023 law designed to ease the return of human remains seized during colonial times.
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Arriving in Antananarivo late Monday, the skulls were welcomed at the airport by members of the Sakalava community dressed in traditional attire. Placed in boxes draped with the national flag, they were escorted through the capital to a mausoleum, where President Andry Rajoelina and other dignitaries received them in a state ceremony on Tuesday.
The remains are expected to continue their journey to Belo Tsiribihina, a Sakalava stronghold on Madagascar’s west coast, where they will be laid to rest later this week.
Historians note that the skulls—believed to be those of King Toera and two of his warriors—were taken to France as war trophies and kept in the country’s national history museum for 128 years, alongside hundreds of other remains from Madagascar.
At the Paris handover, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati explained that a joint scientific committee was able to confirm the skulls’ Sakalava origin, though it could only “presume” that one belonged to the late king.
This restitution follows a broader move by France in recent years to return cultural artefacts and ancestral remains removed during its colonial rule, though each case previously required special parliamentary approval before the new law simplified the process.
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