Auction house halts sale of mummified heads amid backlash
A British auction house was compelled to withdraw human remains from sale, including skulls and mummified heads of indigenous peoples from various parts of the world, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Among the items initially offered by The Swan auction house in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire, were mummified, shrunken Jivaro heads from South America, Ekoi skulls from West Africa, and a 19th-century horned skull from the Naga people of India and Burma.
Sharp criticism of the skull sale idea
The auction house withdrew these items following condemnation from the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR), which called for their return. The director of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford also criticised the proposed sale.
Human remains, including mummified shrunken heads, were removed from display at the Pitt Rivers Museum in 2020 as part of a decolonisation process. The museum, founded in 1884 and focused on anthropology, ethnology, and archaeology, engages in dialogue with many indigenous groups about the future of items housed in its collection.
Ethically problematic
The museum's director, Laura Van Broekhoven, told the BBC she was outraged by the planned auction, as selling human remains would be "ethically really problematic" for many communities around the world, but she welcomed the decision to withdraw the items from sale.
"The fact these objects were taken is really painful, and the fact that they were being put on sale is really disrespectful and inconsiderate. We're conscious that the remains would have been collected in the 19th and 20th centuries, but for them to be on sale in 2024 was quite shocking," she assessed.
Jivaro refers to a group of indigenous tribes living in Ecuador and northeastern Peru. They are famous headhunters known for their technique of shrinking heads to the size of an orange (known as tsantsa, possession of which is believed by the Jivaro to provide supernatural power). Approximately 20,000 people currently live in these tribes.
On the other hand, Naga refers to the people inhabiting northeastern India and the borderlands of Burma. These peoples speak up to 25 languages and include warrior tribes known for keeping the heads of enemies they have killed as trophies.
