A public history project part in two parts as told on the Brains RT. Part one deals with an attempt by communities to engage TCD in the repatriation of skulls stolen from three burial grounds in the west of Ireland in 1890. Part two responds to various arguments advanced by the skulls’ keepers in the”Old” Anatomy Dept in TCD and deals with the issues of provenance and folklore relating to the protection of burial grounds. Part three had a working title of “Finders Keepers?” but never made it online.
Part 1 : The case of the missing skulls from Inishbofin
“John Millington Synge poked fun at colonial science in The Playboy of the Western Worldwhen he referred to an anthropological collection in TCD. “Did you never hear tell” Jimmy asked Philly “of the skulls they have in the city of Dublin, ranged out like blue jugs in a cabin of Connaught?” In 2020, TCD announced plans to deal with its colonial legacy and I joined real-life descendants of Synge’s characters in asking Provost Paddy Prendergast if he had heard of the same skulls. The repatriation of these skulls would, we proposed, be a good way to start decolonising the campus.”
Part 2: ‘Don’t kick that skull or the dead will come after you!’
“Covid restrictions have forced us all to think about traditions relating to death and dying. The case of the Inishbofin skulls at TCD has added a curious twist to that story. An investigation into the provenance of those skulls has uncovered a long-forgotten tradition of placing skulls in medieval ruins and an associated body of folklore that warned people against interfering with them. The message was simple: don’t kick that skull or the dead will come after you!”
