Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Kohima: The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford is prepping to send 39 Naga ancestral remains back to their homeland. The university approved the repatriation this July after a long push from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation. Officials denied a request for one additional remain, citing a lack of clear provenance as Naga.
These remains spent decades in Oxford. Colonial administrators John Henry Hutton and James Philip Mills collected the items between 1910 and 1940. They held the collection until 2020, when the museum pulled all human remains from public view. The museum now collaborates with the Forum for Naga Reconciliation and the Recover, Restore and Decolonise team to manage the transfer.
Museum director Professor Laura Van Broekhoven says the project is about more than just shipping boxes. "The process had grown into a Naga-wide movement focused on healing and unification," she noted. A delegation of tribal leaders and elders will travel to collect the ancestors. The Homebound Project is bankrolling the effort.
The Naga-Oxford Declaration frames the return as a path to peace. It serves as a monument to bring the people together. The remains are finally heading home.
Updated at 9th September 2026 at 10:15am
Museum staff and representatives from Nagaland are currently locking in a specific date for the handover ceremony. While the repatriation was approved in July, officials are coordinating closely with tribal Hohos, churches, and community leaders to ensure the transport follows proper cultural protocols.
The Naga-Oxford Declaration now explicitly includes a statement of solidarity with other Indigenous groups pursuing the return of their own ancestors and cultural property from institutions across the globe.
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