The Naga people will regain custody of more than three dozen sets of ancestral human remains after the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford agreed to return them. The arrangement transfers possession and responsibility for those remains from the museum to representatives of the Naga community.
The Story in Pictures
The agreement covers more than three dozen sets of human remains that had been part of the museum’s holdings. The museum has committed to removing those specific items from its collection and arranging for their transfer to the Naga people.
Returning the remains ends the period in which the museum held physical custody of those sets and moves them back to the ancestral community identified in the agreement. The decision changes who is responsible for the care, custody and final placement of those human remains.
The museum’s agreement establishes a clear path for the repatriation to proceed, with the parties now positioned to carry out the transfer. The action completes a formal decision by the Pitt Rivers Museum to hand those particular remains to the Naga people and thereby alters the composition of the museum’s collection.
How the transfer will be implemented, including timing and logistical arrangements, follows from the museum’s agreement to return the remains. The outcome is a restitution of custody for the Naga community and a reduction in the number of human remains retained by the Pitt Rivers Museum.
