How evidence in teeth can trace the origins of Africans kidnapped during the slave trade

WBUR

Published August 6, 2026 at 12:04 PM EDT

Annina Van Neel looks at a plaque commemorating the burial place of the remains of some liberated African slaves found during the construction of a power plant, on October 18, 2017, at the graveyard of Saint Paul's Cathedral, south of Jamestown, in the British Overseas Territory of St. Helena.
Skeletons of 325 former slaves were discovered during the construction of St. Helena's first airport on the South Atlantic island. After it abolished slave trade in 1807, Britain intercepted Portuguese slave ships sailing off the waters of St. Helena, which lies on what was then a notorious slave route from Africa to the Americas. Between 1840 and 1865, around 25,000 slaves were freed and released on St. Helena, according to historians. (Gianluigi Guerica/AFP via Getty Images)Skeletons of 325 former slaves were discovered during the construction of St. Helena's first airport on the South Atlantic island. After it abolished slave trade in 1807, Britain intercepted Portuguese slave ships sailing off the waters of St. Helena, which lies on what was then a notorious slave route from Africa to the Americas. Between 1840 and 1865, around 25,000 slaves were freed and released on St. Helena, according to historians. (Gianluigi Guerica/AFP via Getty Images) — Annina Van Neel looks at a plaque commemorating the burial place of the remains of some liberated African slaves found during the construction of a power plant, on October 18, 2017, at the graveyard of Saint Paul's Cathedral, south of Jamestown, in the British Overseas Territory of St. Helena. Skeletons of 325 former slaves were discovered during the construction of St. Helena's first airport on the South Atlantic island. After it abolished slave trade in 1807, Britain intercepted Portuguese slave ships sailing off the waters of St. Helena, which lies on what was then a notorious slave route from Africa to the Americas. Between 1840 and 1865, around 25,000 slaves were freed and released on St. Helena, according to historians. (Gianluigi Guerica/AFP via Getty Images)Skeletons of 325 former slaves were discovered during the construction of St. Helena's first airport on the South Atlantic island. After it abolished slave trade in 1807, Britain intercepted Portuguese slave ships sailing off the waters of St. Helena, which lies on what was then a notorious slave route from Africa to the Americas. Between 1840 and 1865, around 25,000 slaves were freed and released on St. Helena, according to historians. (Gianluigi Guerica/AFP via Getty Images)

After Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, it began intercepting slave ships on the Atlantic Ocean. The Africans on the intercepted ships were taken to the remote island of St. Helena where thousands died of disease and were buried in mass graves.

Their remains were only discovered in the past few decades when the island began construction for a new airport, spurring a decade-long project by the local community and researchers on what to do with the remains. The remains were eventually reburied in 2022, but a new study published in the journal Science has discovered new information on the origins of some of the people buried in St. Helena.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with Hannes Schroeder, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen who led the new study, and Annina Van Neel, CEO and founder of the Tiekie Box Project, who worked on St. Helena for more than a decade on the reburial of the remains.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.