Greenlandic mummies return to Copenhagen after nearly a century. After almost 100 years, up to 15 Greenlandic mummies are returning to Copenhagen. They were taken to the United States in 1929 by the American anthropologist Martin Luther, after being removed from a graveyard on Uunartoq Island in South Greenland. The mummies will land in Copenhagen on Friday, as reported by the Greenlandic media outlet KNR.
The mummies will now be kept at the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Copenhagen, where the Greenland National Museum already has some mummy remains. Museum director Daniel Thorleif expresses great joy at the return of the mummies and emphasizes that the Greenland National Museum has worked for five years to gain ownership of them. “The Greenland National Museum believes that all human remains such as mummies, skulls, and other bone materials of Greenlandic origin should return to Greenland, where they belong,” says Daniel Thorleif to KNR.
The mummies, estimated to date back to the 17th century, were originally removed in 1929. However, not all of them managed to survive the transportation to the USA, and only five of them remain well-preserved.