After years of negotiations, the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford has agreed to return a collection of colonial-era human remains to the Indigenous Naga people of northeastern India, Naga representatives announced on Saturday. The repatriation involves 39 pieces, including the cranium of a warrior, the skull of a woman, and a young person's jaw, which have been held in the museum for over a century.
These remains were previously displayed in an exhibit titled “Treatment of Dead Enemies” alongside other Indigenous human remains, such as the shrunken heads of the South American Shuar people. In 2020, the museum removed 120 human remains, including those of the Naga, from public display and placed them in storage. The planned return of the Naga remains to Nagaland—a small northeastern state in India—is scheduled to take place by the end of this year.
Ellen Konyak, representing the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, described the forthcoming handover as a restoration of “the light of our ancestors that was dimmed but never extinguished.” The nonprofit forum collaborated with the museum and various Naga tribal groups throughout the repatriation process. The forum also announced plans to erect a “monument of healing and peace” at the resting place of the returned remains to symbolize Naga unity.
Laura Van Broekhoven, director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, referred to the repatriation event, set for November, as the largest of its kind in the institution's history and described it as part of a “Naga-wide movement of healing and unification.”
Formal talks between the Naga representatives and the museum began in 2020 after years of requests from the Indigenous community. Naga anthropologists Dolly Kikon and Arkotong Longkumer played key roles in initiating the repatriation effort. Kikon described the return as “a celebration” and “the homecoming of our loved ones.”
Most of the remains were collected during the early 20th century by British officers J.P. Mills and J.H. Hutton, who served in the Naga regions during the British colonial period. While some were donated by members of the Naga community, many were taken forcibly or under duress, according to scholars involved in the repatriation.
The human remains held abroad have long been a symbol of the Naga people's difficult colonial history and the complex legacy of cultural loss, missionary influence, and conflicts with the Indian government following independence. The issue has become a focal point for ongoing discussions about identity and historical reconciliation within Naga society.
In recent years, the plight of Naga ancestors has drawn renewed attention. In October 2024, a Naga skull offered for auction in the United Kingdom drew widespread condemnation from the Naga community, resulting in the sale’s suspension. Kikon expressed a desire to see the commercial trade of ancestral remains outlawed in the U.K.
A delegation of 20 Naga leaders and scholars visited the museum in June 2025 to view the remains in storage for the first time. The experience elicited strong emotions, with Reverend A. Peihwang Wangsa describing his reaction as one of shock and anger over the treatment of the remains. Before departing, the group placed traditional Naga shawls—each representing different tribes—on the remains to symbolically reconnect the ancestors to their communities.
“The shawls have finally led our ancestors home,” Wangsa remarked, highlighting the emotional significance of the impending repatriation. Large quantities of Naga ancestral remains remain in collections across Europe and the United States, underscoring the ongoing challenges of repatriation efforts worldwide.