In the UK, Oxford University's Worcester College has for decades used a bowl made from a human skull at official events. About this in his new book “Every Monument Collapses” writes Professor Dan Hicks, curator of the Pitt Rivers Museum. The publication was brought to the attention of The Guardian newspaper.
According to the historian, the bowl is made from a sawn-off and polished skull box, decorated with a rim and base of silver. The vessel was used to serve wine and chocolate at formal dinners at Worcester College until 2015.
Radiocarbon analysis showed the skull to be about 225 years old. Circumstantial evidence suggests it may have belonged to a slave woman from the Caribbean, but her identity is unknown.
The bowl was donated to the college in 1946 by George Pitt-Rivers, an advocate of fascism and eugenics who was interned during World War II.
His grandfather, General Pitt-Rivers, bought it at a Sotheby's auction in 1884. Silver marks indicate manufacture in 1838, the year of Queen Victoria's coronation.
After complaints from students and guests, use of the bowl was discontinued. In 2019, the college commissioned Hicks to investigate its provenance.
Worcester College officials said the bowl has rarely been used since 2011 and was removed altogether 10 years ago. The artifact is now archived “with reverence” and access to it is prohibited.
Worcester College is one of Oxford's 39 colleges, founded in 1714 on the basis of an earlier institution. The college is considered one of the most prestigious at Oxford University