The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford is coordinating with representatives from Nagaland to set a date for the handover ceremony of 39 Naga ancestral remains, after which the remains will begin their journey home.
The museum houses the world’s largest collection of Naga material, much of it gathered by colonial administrators in the early twentieth century. The Forum for Naga Reconciliation approached the museum earlier this year to request the return of the remains, and a Naga delegation from India is scheduled to accompany them.
Pitt Rivers Museum director Professor Laura Van Broekhoven described the process as “humbling,” noting that since 2020 the museum has worked with the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, the Recover, Restore and Decolonise team, tribal Hohos, elders, churches and communities across the Naga homeland on how the ancestors should be cared for and returned.
In February 2026 the University of Oxford received a claim from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation for 40 ancestral remains held at the museum. The claim followed the university’s procedures for returning cultural objects and was approved by the Oxford University Council on 13 July 2026. The council approved the return of 39 remains but declined one, citing an unclear provenance as Naga. The museum said the handover date is being worked out and that the remains will return accompanied by a Naga delegation of leaders and elders from several tribal Hohos, along with members of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation and the Recover, Restore and Decolonise team. The remains had been on display until 2020, when the museum removed all human remains from display. The Naga‑Oxford Declaration calls for a dignified rest for the ancestors and the establishment of a Naga monument of healing and peace symbolising Naga unity, and expresses solidarity with Indigenous peoples seeking repatriation. Official records show the first Naga ancestral remains were given to the museum over a century ago by colonial administrator and anthropologist John Henry Hutton, with most brought to Oxford by Hutton and fellow administrator‑anthropologist James Philip Mills between 1910 and 1940.
