International Research into the Origins of the Liberated Africans
- Katherine Prior
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
We are excited to share a press release from the Liberated African Advisory Committee announcing the publication of groundbreaking multi-disciplinary research into the regional origins of the Africans who died and were buried on St Helena after being released by the Royal Navy from slaving ships in the mid-19th century. This is research that will help inform the creation of a lasting memorial to the Liberated Africans in the No. 1 Building in Rupert's Valley.
Published in July 2026 in the journal Science, the study, undertaken by an international team of researchers in collaboration with St Helena, examines the remains of 152 liberated Africans whose graves were uncovered during archaeological excavations in Rupert’s Valley in 2007-08. The scholars have used a combination of historical records, chemical analysis of teeth, geographic modelling and ancient DNA to investigate where these particular individuals may have spent their childhoods.
The findings suggest that many originated from western Central Africa, including regions associated with present-day Angola and the Congo. However, the researchers also identified individuals whose chemical signatures point to origins much further inland, indicating that some people may have been forcibly moved hundreds or even thousands of kilometres before arriving at coastal slave-trading ports.
Lead researcher Professor Hannes Schroeder of the University of Copenhagen said that historical records often reveal the ports from which slave ships departed but provide little information about where captive people came from before reaching the coast. “By combining different lines of evidence and working closely with the community on St Helena, we were able to recover fragments of these life histories, including where people came from and when they were displaced,” he said.
Helena Bennett, Director of the St Helena National Trust, Chair of the LAAC and a co-author of the study, said the findings highlight the diversity of the liberated Africans and the importance of recognising them as individuals rather than a single group. “This project has always been about more than scientific analysis,” she said. “It is about restoring dignity and acknowledging the lives of those who suffered.”
Read the full Press Release here.
Read the article and a related perspective piece in Science.
See more about the No. 1 Building Project.