Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum will return 39 human remains to the Naga people in north-east India by agreement with the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). The remains were collected by British colonial administrators in the early 20th century and had been on public display until 2020. The repatriation is part of a wider international movement to return artefacts and human remains acquired during the colonial era, following similar moves by London's Horniman Museum and the University of Edinburgh. One specimen was excluded from the agreement due to lack of clear provenance as Naga.
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Oxford University's Pitt Rivers Museum will return 39 human remains to the Naga community in north-east India, which were taken during Britain's colonial era. The museum collected these remains in the early 20th century as part of its extensive collection of Naga artefacts, and some were even displayed publicly until 2020. The decision to repatriate was made after Oxford University approved a request from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), with the museum's director stating that the remains "have been away from their homeland for far too long." The return of these remains is seen as significant not only because it brings the ancestral remains back to their home, but also because it allows memories to be restored to where they belong.
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Leaning score withheld for article 6703: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-09-07
Oxford University museum to return human remains to Naga people in India
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museum → return → India
Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum will return the remains of 39 people taken during Britain’s colonial era to the Naga community in north-east India, the museum said on Sept 7.
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museum → return → Sept
The museum, which holds the world’s largest collection of Naga artefacts, confirmed it was preparing the repatriation after the university approved a restitution request by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR).
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university → hold → Reconciliation
The remains “have been away from their homeland for far too long”, museum director Laura Van Broekhoven said in a statement.
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Broekhoven → say → statement
The human remains were collected in the early 20th century by British colonial administrators, and some remained on public display until 2020.
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some → collect → 2020
“Repatriation, for the Nagas, is not simply about bones and ancestral remains finding their way back to the land but importantly about memory returning to where it belongs,” the FNR and other Naga organisations said in a statement, welcoming the agreement.
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FNR → find → agreement
The request covered 40 sets of human remains, Pitt Rivers Museum said.
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Museum → cover → remains
Oxford University approved the return of 39 of them on July 13, concluding that one specimen “does not have a clear provenance as Naga”.
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specimen → approve → Naga
The museum said it was “working closely” with the Naga community to agree on a date for a handover ceremony, which has not been set yet.
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which → say → ceremony
The agreement forms part of a wider international movement to repatriate artefacts and human remains acquired by Western institutions during the colonial era.
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agreement → form → era
In 2022, London’s Horniman Museum returned 72 artefacts to Nigeria, including 12 Benin bronze artefacts, and earlier in 2026 the University of Edinburgh returned the skulls of six people to a Native American group.
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University → return → group
Greece has for decades demanded the return from Britain of the Parthenon Marbles, saying they were looted in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
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they → demand → Empire
London insists they were legally acquired and successive British governments have noted that the decision rests with the British Museum, where they are kept.
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they → insist → Museum
