France returned three human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to be that of a king beheaded by French colonial forces during a 19th century massacre.
French troops slaughtered locals from Madagascar’s Sakalava community in 1897 and took remains — including the skulls — to France, where they were housed in a Paris museum.
France’s culture minister handed them back to her Madagascan counterpart during a ceremony in Paris this week, and they will soon be transported back to the Indian Ocean island: Though France has slowly been restoring colonial-era artifacts to their homelands, the latest transfer was the first of human remains since the country passed a law meant to accelerate the process of restitution.