crâne d’Ataï France et Nouvelle-Calédonie

In 1878, the great chief Ataï was killed during the rebellion of his clan against the land grabbing by the French colonizers. Become the symbol of the fight against French colonialism in New Caledonia, its head was put on price before becoming the property of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (SAP). From the Matignon Agreement in 1988, France promised the return of the Atai skull. However, it was not until 2014, after repeated requests, that the skull was finally returned to its descendants thanks to the vote of a motion within the SAP. The Atai skull return ceremony, supervised by the National Museum of Natural History, took place at its premises on August 28, 2014.