Switzerland returns ancestral remains to Chile

A student in Basel, Switzerland, initiated the return of ancestral remains to Chile this October. The remains belong to the Kawésqar people, including a woman who lived 1,400 years ago and a young person unable to walk. Francisco González described how two of the bodies underwent a process of boiling to clean their bones.

The restitution follows a request from Chile and marks a step toward acknowledging the heritage of the Kawésqar, an Indigenous people of Patagonia.