The vast number of overseas human remains held by UK museums is a shameful legacy of colonialism, with many items kept in ways that are sacrilegious, according to MPs and archaeologists. An investigation by the Guardian found that UK museums hold more than 263,000 items of human remains from around the world, including whole skeletons, preserved bodies, such as Egyptian mummies, skulls, bones, ski...
The vast number of overseas human remains held by UK museums is a shameful legacy of colonialism, with many items kept in ways that are sacrilegious, according to MPs and archaeologists. An investigation by the Guardian found that UK museums hold more than 263,000 items of human remains from around the world, including whole skeletons, preserved bodies, such as Egyptian mummies, skulls, bones, skin, teeth, nails, scalps and hair. Responses to freedom of information (FoI) requests from the Guardian revealed that 37,000 items of human remains are known to originate from overseas, including thousands from former British colonies. The countries of origin of another 16,000 items are unknown. Of the 28,914 items of human remains known to originate from outside Europe, 11,856 were identified as coming from Africa, 9,550 from Asia, 3,252 from Oceania, 2,276 from North America, and 1,980 from South America. The institution with the largest collection of non-European human remains is the Natural History Museum in London, with at least 11,215 items. It has the largest collections of remains from Asia and North and South America. The University of Cambridge has the second largest, with at least 8,740 items in its Duckworth laboratory, including the biggest collection (6,223) of remains known to originate from Africa. Of the 241 museums, universities and councils that hold human remains, only 100 disclosed an exact or estimated number of individuals represented in their collections, totalling around 79,334 people. The remainder said they did not know, often because remains from different bodies were mixed together or due to gaps in their records, such as items being undocumented. Some institutions said they held several cardboard boxes of human remains, but knew neither the number nor the provenance of the items these contained. Lord Paul Boateng said the findings exposed UK museums and universities as “imperial charnel houses where the bones of Indigenous peoples torn from Brit...