Oxford Museum Returns 39 Naga Ancestral Remains to India

Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum returned the remains of 39 Naga people to community representatives on 9 November 2026. The remains were taken during British colonial rule in India and are mainly skulls.

Almost 30 people from Nagaland travelled to Britain for the handover ceremony. Museum director Laura Van Broekhoven described the event as a historic moment that will be part of stories told to future generations.

“We shall put them to respectful rest.”

The museum said both sides signed a formal agreement on the handover. The remains were already on their way to Heathrow airport after the museum overcame what the director called so much red tape everywhere.

Naga tribal leaders plan to bury the remains together under a joint memorial in a park. Tribal leader Thejao Vihienuo said they shall put them to respectful rest.

Oxford’s records show most remains arrived between about 1910 and 1940 through British colonial administrators John Henry Hutton and James Philip Mills. Some had been displayed in the museum before all human remains were removed from display in 2020.

Oxford’s governing council approved the return of 39 remains on 13 July 2026 but turned down the request for one further ancestor. The museum still has around 2,700 human remains in storage.

The return is part of a broader trend among Western museums reassessing how they acquired exhibits from other cultures, particularly human remains, and in some cases returning them.