World · South & Central Asia · 5 hrs ago
Oxford museum returns remains of 39 Naga people to their community
The Pitt Rivers Museum returned the remains of 39 Naga people to representatives of the Naga community on Nov.
9 in Oxford, Britain.
The remains, mainly skulls, were brought to Oxford between 1910 and 1940, during British colonial rule in India.
The museum says many objects collected in that period were taken during punitive military expeditions, rather than freely given.
Naga leaders plan to bury the remains together beneath a joint memorial in a park.
The handover followed six years of work between the community and museum and was accompanied by a formal agreement.
The return is part of a wider effort by Western museums to reconsider how they acquired objects and human remains from other cultures.
The museum still has around 2,700 human remains in storage, and the sources do not say whether more will be returned.
The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford returned the remains of 39 Naga people to members of their community on Nov 9.
The remains were taken during Britain’s colonial rule in India and brought to Oxford between 1910 and 1940.
Almost 30 people from Nagaland travelled to Britain for the handover ceremony.
Naga tribal leaders plan to bury the remains together beneath a joint memorial in a park.
The museum holds more than 6,000 objects representing Naga culture and has around 2,700 human remains in storage.
- Who
- The Pitt Rivers Museum returned the remains to members of the Naga community.
- What
- The museum handed over the remains of 39 people.
- When
- Nov 9. The article was published on Nov 10, 2026.
- Where
- The handover took place at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Britain.
- Why
- The remains were returned to the Naga community; the sources do not state a specific reason for the handover.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Naga remains were brought to Oxford, mostly collected by two colonial administrators who were anthropologists.
The museum removed all human remains from display.
Thejao Vihienuo visited with other Nagas as part of the return process.
The museum returned the remains of 39 Naga people at a ceremony in Oxford.
- Remains returned
- 39 people
- Handover date
- Nov 9
- Handover location
- Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
- Community delegation
- Almost 30 people travelled from Nagaland to Britain
- Naga collection
- More than 6,000 objects representing Naga culture
- Remains in storage
- Around 2,700
What people are saying
a historic moment that will be part of stories told to next generations
We shall put them to respectful rest
I suspect that nobody would have given the skull of his father or his grandfather as a gift to another person.