(CNN) — The skull of an Aboriginal man who is thought to have been killed by colonizers in the early 19th century has been returned for burial in Tasmania from a British university.
The remains of the unidentified young man will be laid to rest in a ceremonial burial on the Australian island on Friday, the University of Aberdeen said in a statement published Wednesday.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, which will hold the long-delayed burial, was first contacted by the Scottish university in 2019 with a proposal for repatriation. This was approved the following year.
Details of how the university came to be in possession of the skull – which is missing its lower jaw – are limited, the university said. What is known is that it was part of the collection of William MacGillivray, professor of natural history at Marischal College, a forerunner of the modern Aberdeen University.
When MacGillivray died in 1852, the university bought …