The Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University announced that it will return to the Naga community in northeast India the remains of 39 people collected during the British colonial period. The material remained for decades in the institution's collections, and part of it was even displayed to the public until 2020. The restitution was approved following a request from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), an organization that represents this indigenous population.
The museum houses the world's largest collection of Naga artifacts. The initial request included remains attributed to 40 people. On July 13, Oxford University approved the return of 39 sets. The last one was not included because researchers could not definitively confirm that it belonged to a Naga individual.
According to the FNR, the repatriation represents much more than the physical return of the remains to their homeland. For the Naga people, it is about restoring ancestral memory to the place it belongs.
