A Skull in Connemara

Inishbofin, is an island off the west coast of county Galway and many Galway city folks have relatives there, or have spent a holiday there. This beautiful little island off Cleggan is in the news this week in a dramatic fashion, in an article that appeared in The Kerryman newspaper.

Martin McDonagh's darkly disturbing play, 'A skull in Connemara' was all about the not uncommon practice of recycling graves and relocating and destroying the bones and skulls of the dead, including coincidentally, the skull of the wife of the main character, who was suspected of murdering her twenty years earlier. Grim stuff indeed!

Back in the late 19th and early 20th century Craniometry, Phrenology and Physiognomy (look them up), were all part of a now-discredited, broad pseudo-science called Eugenics, which some of the greatest scientists and thinkers in the then academic world subscribed to, or at least dabbled in. It was a natural follow-on to the then darling of the press, and hotly dispute, 'Darwin's theory of evolution'.

In the end, thankfully, there was very little evidence to show that ancient or indigenous peoples, or physically different peoples or individuals were inferior, or prone to traits such as violence, laziness, lunacy, sexual deviancy and much more. Nor was there a superior race, an Aryan bloodline, that were naturally pre-determined and pre-destined to rule all others on earth.

It is not well known for instance that for decades, all emigrants (Irish included) who passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in America, were routinely measured, classified and described in a Eugenistically-inspired and informed manner, classifying millions of people passing through those halls, as likely or less-likely to succeed, or to contribute to America, or to end up in jail, or commit murder or rape. Imagine how that would play out today?

Yet traces of that thought process and theory still linger on in emigration policies and the treatment of indigenous peoples all over the world.

Henry Ford was a fan of Eugenics, but so also were many of the thought-leaders of the world. Hitler capitalised on this fascination about race, and predetermination, and the rest is unfortunately, a tragic history.

The theft of the skulls from Inishbofin and the Blaskets by a curious and over-zealous research student was neither unusual, nor at the time, criminal, but certainly, by our standards it was wrong, wrong then, and wrong now. And those skulls are just the tip of the iceberg, with millions of bones and 'samples' languishing in drawers and files in every university and museum of the world, bought or stolen or borrowed from grave-sites and others.

So yes, the skulls ought to be repatriated and re-interred in their home islands of Bofin and Blasket, with great respect and reverence, but also with a bit of pomp and pride, in the full knowledge that those skulls played a small but important role in debunking the whole idea of superior races and other racist theories. We can learn a lot from the past, mistakes are just another lesson.