UK peers have called for human remains being displayed in British museums to be returned to the communities they belong to, and a ban on the sale of the same. In the UK, human body parts can legally be held in museums and private collections, as well as be put up for sale. The call to return human remains follows an uproar last year over the sale of a 19th century skull belonging to the Nagas at an antique centre in Oxfordshire. The sale was called off later.
A significant number of British museums and cultural institutions hold ancestral remains in their collections, acquired during the colonial era, often through violence. During a debate on the matter, the House of Lords was told on Thursday that a human skull can sell for over Rs 1 lakh. Real human bones are sold as art, or in gothic shops. “At its peak, India was exporting over 60,000 skeletons each year for the instruction of medical students. It was a lucrative colonial trade route. India banned the sales in 1985,” said crossbench peer Baroness Black of Strome.
Alok Kumar Kanungo, a Naga culture scholar, estimates the UK museums and private collections hold around 50,000 Naga objects.
Culture minister Baroness Twycross, representing the govt at the debate, said she was “appalled” by the objects on sale online. The British Museum alone holds over 6,000 human remains, including mummified bodies.