British Museum won’t return remains

The British Museum is refusing to return seven Maori heads from its collection (Museums Journal). Two reasons were given: firstly a technical point, that “it was unclear whether or not a process of mortuary disposal had been interrupted”, and secondly and astonishingly patronisingly, that “it was unclear that the importance of the remains to Te Papa [the NZ national museum] outweighed the significance of the remains as sources of information about human history.”

By invoking point (1), the museum is simply using a technicality to avoid compliance with the spirit of the law, as it has done many times in the past. It is important to realise that mummified Maori heads, or toi moko, were never collected with the consent of the original owner’s relatives, and therefore have never been able to undergo traditional ‘mortuary disposal’ as would have been intended. Mostly they were captured in battle or stolen from burial places by rival tribes, and then traded to Europeans for muskets. As such, the museum has an obligation to return these remains to the communities of origin, should they be identifiable, who never relinquished them willingly, so that appropriate funeral rites can be held.

Point (2)  is very unusual – the law states that remains should be returned when a descendent community requests it – it is not a matter for the BM to decide whether they will use the remains more appropriately or not. The suggestion that the remains probably contain high-quality DNA is surely bogus – I challenge the museum to detail any programme of study that proposes to extract and study this DNA. The main reason why it is highly unlikely that anyone is intending to do this, is that the DNA would not differ from that of the modern population. These heads are only in the region of 150-300 years old, and no appreciable genetic changes will have occurred in the meantime.

The British Museum’s response is deeply disappointing, and indicates that it is still unwilling to enter into the spirit of partnership with other museums and with indigenous peoples around the world, whom it purports to represent in its collections. It may be that this will eventually result in stronger repatriation legislation, as the government will be compelled to force British museums to act ethically.

Published: 6.10.08 / 12am
Tags: human remains, maori, museums