Researchers shed new light on stolen skulls

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Researchers shed new light on stolen skulls
Photo: Fritz Schibli/TT

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Finland has got back tens of skulls that the Swedish racial biologist Gustaf Retzius stole from graves in the 1800s.

Researchers in Pälkäne, Finland, are now trying, with the help of, among other things, DNA analysis, to bring clarity to who the deceased were and how they lived hundreds of years ago, Finnish media reports. The work is to be done in a respectful manner.

A large part of the skulls date back to the 1500s and 1600s.

The researchers only have a couple of weeks, in September, the deceased's remains will be buried in the ground in Pälkäne.

The remains were returned by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden after a formal request from Finland in February this year.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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