Oxford museum returns ancestral Naga skulls to India

What the report says

The University of Oxford has returned the remains of 39 people from the Naga community to representatives from India’s Nagaland state, in a handover ceremony held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. According to the BBC, the delegation from Nagaland included around 30 people and attended the event on Monday, when the museum formally transferred the remains and signed an agreement with Naga leaders.

Most of the remains are skulls collected during British colonial rule and kept in the museum’s holdings for decades before being taken out of public display in 2020. The BBC reports that the remains are now due to be taken back to Nagaland, where tribal leaders plan a joint memorial and burial in a park. Museum director Laura Van Broekhoven called the transfer a significant moment after years of administrative delays.

The Pitt Rivers Museum said its Naga collection is among the largest in the world, with more than 6,000 objects linked to Naga culture. The report notes that many of these items were acquired during colonial rule in India and Myanmar, and that the museum has previously returned human remains to indigenous communities in other countries. The latest handover follows a request from Naga representatives during a prior visit to Oxford.