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Emotional welcome home for ancestral remains

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MORE than 100 Maori and Moriori ancestral remains were welcomed home at Te Papa this month.

It’s the largest repatriation of ancestral remains in New Zealand’s history.

Maori leaders and representatives from the government attended the powhiri to formally receive the remains from the American Museum of Natural History.

Arapata Hakiwai Te Papa’s Kaihautū says it was a significant day and commends the American museum for its support in bringing the ancestors home.

The remains were collected from the early 1800s up until the 1900s throughout Europe and North America at a time when trading in indigenous remains was popular.

The remains consist of 35 preserved tattooed Maori heads or Toi moko, two tattooed thigh skins and 46 skeletal remains.

There are also 24 Moriori skeletal remains.

They will now go through a period of quarantine, conservation and research before going back to their whanau.

Te Papa estimates at least 650 Māori and Moriori ancestral remains are still abroad, most of them held in European institutions.

Lize Immelman

 


Created with flickr slideshow.

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