London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – UK auction house withdraws ‘disrespectful’ sale of shrunken skulls.
A British auction house has withdrawn from marketing human and ancestral remains, including shrunken heads and skulls, from neighbourhoods across the globe after objection from native groups and museums. Among the items initially detailed were shrunken heads from the Jivaro people of South America, heads from the Ekoi people of West Africa and a 19th-century horned human cranium from the Naga people of India and Myanmar, the BBC said.
The Swan auction house in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire pulled the items after condemnation from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), who called for the things to be repatriated. The sale was also condemned by the director of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, which holds such things in its collection and is in conversation with the communities over the future of such remains.
Who criticized the auction and called for repatriation?
Neiphiu Rio, the chief minister of the Indian state of Nagaland, criticised the auctioning of human remains as an action of dehumanisation and continued colonial violence, and expressed it was a highly emotional and sacred matter, Indian media reported.
What are the ethical implications of selling remains?
Laura Van Broekhoven, the head of the Pitt Rivers Museum, told the BBC she was “outraged” at the offered auction and praised the decision to withdraw the items. The sale was “ethically problematic” for many communities worldwide, she expressed. “The fact these objects were taken is really painful, and the fact that they were being put on sale is rude and inconsiderate. We’re conscious that the remains would have been compiled in the 19th and 20th centuries, but for them to be on sale in 2024 was quite shocking,” she stated.
Tom Keane, auctioneer, valuer and proprietor of The Swan auction house, verified the items had been withdrawn after receiving objections. “We looked into it, we respected the views expressed and we withdrew the items,” he stated. Human remains including skeletal heads were removed from the exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum in 2020 as an element of a “decolonisation process”. The museum, established in 1884 and concentrating on anthropology, ethnology and archaeology, is in conversation with many Indigenous groups about the future of artefacts held in its collection.