African skulls pillaged during German colonial rule have been matched to living relatives after DNA tests

• German invaders pillaged thousands of skulls from East African colonies and brought them back.
• Using DNA analysis, a museum has managed to find relat of three of the skulls.

Ancient skulls pillaged by German invaders from East Africa have been traced to living relatives, thanks to DNA analysis, Berlin's Museums authority (SPK) said Tuesday.

The discovery of descendants, made by Berlin's Museum of Prehistory and Early History, was lauded as a "small miracle," SPK's director said in a translated press release.

The study is part of a wider-ranging project by the museum to find the provenance of at least 1,100 skulls found in a 7,700-strong skull collection the museum acquired from Berlin's Charité Hospital museum in 2011.

The collection is controversial because of its origins. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German empire took thousands of skulls from its colonies for research into racial classification. Such research has since been discredited, the BBC reported in 2018.

Many of these skulls are thought to have found their way into the SPK's collection, per the BBC.

Some of these skulls were from colonial victims. As part of the restitution efforts, the SPK has previously returned 20 of the collection's skulls to Namibia in 2011. These are thought to have belonged to indigenous Nama and Herero tribes who were killed in brutal wars by German invaders almost a century earlier, Science Magazine reported in 2011.

The DNA sample provided a direct match

Many of the skulls in the collection were in very poor condition when they were acquired by the SPK, and many lacked conservation records, which is why it is so difficult to trace the skulls back to descendants, a museum spokesperson told Insider on the phone.

There were clues to help with the identification of some of these remains. Diary entries and records, as well as numbers or words unceremoniously scribbled on some of the skulls, helped narrow down their origins.

In the case of eight of the skulls, the museum collected enough information to seek out potential relatives. They contacted 10 people to provide DNA swabs. Surprisingly, one was a perfect match.

The fact that the skull was traced back to a descendent is "amazing," the museum spokesperson said.

This person's ancestor had a single word inscribed on his skull: "Akida." Per the museum's statement, this suggests this person was a very important person for the Chagga people, a people from the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania.

The SPK believes this person was a high-ranking advisor to Mangi Meli, the ruler of the Chagga people.

It's not clear what would have happened to this advisor at the time of his death. But we do know Meli met a brutal end when he was hanged and decapitated after leading an uprising against German invaders in 1900, per the BBC.

Two other skulls have also been traced back to people who provided DNA samples, and it is "likely" that they are descendants, per the statement.

The relatives will now be contacted to determine what they want to do with the remains.