More than a million human remains from around the world are currently held in British museums, which MPs and archaeologists say is a disturbing legacy of the country’s colonial past. Not only that, but many of the items were reportedly stored in a manner that was disrespectful and even profane.
a survey The Guardian In total, British museums were found to hold more than 263,000 human remains, ranging from complete skeletons and well-preserved corpses (such as Egyptian mummies) to skulls, bones, skin, teeth, nails, scalps and hair.
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Freedom of information requests have revealed that around 37,000 of the known remains come from overseas, with thousands of them from former British colonies. For another 16,000 items, the museum has no idea where they came from.
The largest share of remains of known origin outside Europe comes from Africa, with 11,856, followed by 9,550 from Asia, 3,252 from Oceania, 2,276 from North America and 1,980 from South America.
The Natural History Museum in London has the largest collection of non-European human remains, with at least 11,215 items, with the largest collections from Asia and the Americas.
The University of Cambridge ranks second, with at least 8,740 items in its Duckworth Laboratory. The collection includes the largest group of African remains, totaling 6,223 items.
Across the UK, 241 museums, universities and local councils say they hold human remains. But only 100 institutions have been able to estimate how many people the remains represent, about 79,000 in total. The rest said they couldn’t reveal it, often because the remains of different bodies were mixed together over time or because records were incomplete or lost altogether.
In some cases, agencies reported that cardboard boxes were filled with human remains but had no idea what exactly was inside or where the material came from.
The discovery prompted sharp criticism from politicians and academics.
Former Labor cabinet minister Lord Paul Boateng described British museums and universities as the “morgues of empire”. He believes Aboriginal remains collected during the British Empire are still preserved today with “little regard for the spiritual beliefs of the communities from which they came”.
Labor MP Bel Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the parliamentary group on reparations in Africa, called the situation “barbaric” and noted that many of the remains appeared to have been looted and now stored anonymously in boxes in museums.
“There is a complete lack of respect in the way these remains are being stored and displayed,” she said. “Even in death, they were stripped of their dignity.”
Researchers say the size of the collection also contradicts long-held claims by the British government. In guidance published in 2005, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the “vast majority” of human remains in British museums originated in the UK and had been excavated under a clear legal framework.
But Dan Hicks, a professor of contemporary archeology at the University of Oxford who analyzed the data, said the reality looked very different. He argued that many museum collections contained corpses and body parts collected from cemeteries or battlefields by British colonial officials and soldiers, sometimes kept as trophies or used in now-discredited racial sciences such as eugenics.
Hicks also said the responses showed many museums were failing to follow existing government guidance that human remains should be stored separately, handled with respect and kept in a controlled environment. Agencies are also encouraged to publish a list of the remains they hold, but many have not yet done so.
For Hicks, the lack of documentation and transparency continues to cause harm that began when the remains were first taken away. Treating human bodies as museum pieces reflects “the colonial violence involved in the acquisition and storage of human remains,” he said.
Boateng called on the government to establish a national register of human remains in British collections and set clear rules for their return to their countries and communities of origin.
DCMS and the University of Cambridge declined to comment. The Guardian.
The Museums Association, which represents British museums, acknowledges that many overseas human remains were collected during the colonial period. Its director Sharon Heal said updated guidance and legislation could help agencies work more closely with communities seeking the return of ancestors’ remains.
The Natural History Museum said it was committed to “high standards of care and stewardship” of the remains in its collections. It noted that it had not rejected any repatriation request when a clear link to the community of origin had been established.
The University of Cambridge’s Duckworth Laboratory said on its website that it follows government guidance on the care and management of human remains.
