The University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum has formally returned the remains of 39 people taken from the Naga community during British colonial rule in India to a delegation from Nagaland, in what museum director Laura Van Broekhoven called a historic moment. The remains, mostly skulls, will be given what tribal leaders described as a 'respectful rest'; there are plans to bury them under a joint memorial in Nagaland.
A delegation of around 30 people from Nagaland travelled to Oxford for the ceremony on Monday, where the museum officially handed over the remains and signed an agreement with Naga leaders. The remains are expected to be taken back to India, with plans to bury them under a joint memorial in a park in Nagaland.
The Pitt Rivers Museum holds more than 6,000 objects associated with Naga culture, believed to be the largest such collection in the world. The museum's website notes that objects collected during the colonial period were 'frequently confiscated during punitive military expeditions, rather than freely given'. Human remains were removed from public view in 2020 as part of what the museum described as a 'decolonisation process'.
Items listed by the museum as human remains were added to its collection between 1910 and 1940 and mostly collected by two colonial administrators who were anthropologists. During their visit, the Naga delegation also met descendants of one of the anthropologists involved.
Van Broekhoven described the handover as 'a historic moment that will be part of stories told to next generations'. She said the remains were finally on their way home after overcoming 'so much red tape everywhere'.
One of the tribal leaders, Thejao Vihienuo, expressed suspicion about the manner in which the remains were taken. 'The manner in which these human remains were taken away from our land leaves much for us to speculate,' he told AFP. 'I suspect that nobody would have given the skull of his father or his grandfather as a gift to another person.'
Anthropologists say the Naga people once practised head hunting, but also kept the heads of their own chiefs at the centre of villages.
The Pitt Rivers Museum has previously returned human remains to indigenous communities in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The latest handover to India concerns only the 39 ancestral remains and follows a visit by a Naga delegation to Oxford in 2025, when it formally requested their return. The museum had announced in September that the remains would be returned.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The repatriation marks a significant step in addressing historical injustices from colonialism, with potential implications for other museums and collections worldwide.
- For the Naga community, the return allows for culturally appropriate burial and closure after decades of the remains being held abroad.
- The event underscores the growing momentum of repatriation movements and the role of museums in decolonisation.
Background
The Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford holds one of the world's largest collections of Naga objects, mostly acquired during British colonial rule in India and Myanmar. The museum has been evaluating its collections and practices, removing human remains from display in 2020 as part of a decolonisation process. It has previously returned ancestral remains to communities in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
What to Watch
- The transport and burial of the remains in Nagaland, and any ceremony that follows.
- Whether other objects from the museum's Naga collection will be repatriated in the future.
- The response from colonial-era descendant families and the ongoing dialogue between the museum and indigenous communities.
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12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
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- SupportedThe Pitt Rivers Museum has returned ancestral Naga remains to India.BBC News: “The University of Oxford has returned the remains of 39 people taken from the Naga community during British colonial rule in India.”
- SupportedThe museum formally returned the remains to a delegation from Nagaland.BBC News: “A delegation of around 30 people from Nagaland, a mountainous state in north-eastern India, attended a ceremony at Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum on Monday to mark the handover.”
- SupportedThe remains belonged to 39 people taken from the Naga community during British colonial rule in India.BBC News: “The University of Oxford has returned the remains of 39 people taken from the Naga community during British colonial rule in India.”
- SupportedVan Broekhoven called the handover “a historic moment that will be part of stories told to next generations”.BBC News: “Museum director Laura Van Broekhoven described it as "a historic moment that will be part of stories told to next generations".”
- SupportedMost of the remains are skulls.BBC News: “The remains, most of which are skulls, will be taken back to India and given what Naga tribal leaders have described as a "respectful rest".”
- SupportedNaga tribal leaders described the remains as deserving a “respectful rest”.BBC News: “The remains, most of which are skulls, will be taken back to India and given what Naga tribal leaders have described as a "respectful rest".”
- SupportedAround 30 people from Nagaland attended the ceremony in Oxford on Monday.BBC News: “A delegation of around 30 people from Nagaland, a mountainous state in north-eastern India, attended a ceremony at Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum on Monday to mark the handover.”
- SupportedThe remains are planned to be buried under a joint memorial in a park in Nagaland.BBC News: “There are plans to bury them under a joint memorial in a park in Nagaland.”
- SupportedThe museum formally handed over the remains and signed an agreement with Naga leaders.BBC News: “The museum formally handed over the remains and signed an agreement with Naga leaders on Monday”
- SupportedVan Broekhoven said the remains were on their way home after overcoming “so much red tape everywhere”.BBC News: “She said the remains were finally on their way home after overcoming "so much red tape everywhere".”
- SupportedThe museum’s website says objects collected during the colonial period were “frequently confiscated during punitive military expeditions, rather than freely given”.BBC News: “The museum's website, external mentions that the objects collected during this period were "frequently confiscated during punitive military expeditions, rather than freely given".”
- SupportedThejao Vihienuo said the manner in which the remains were taken left much for the Naga people to speculate.BBC News: “"The manner in which these human remains were taken away from our land leaves much for us to speculate," one of the tribal leaders, Thejao Vihienuo, told AFP.”