The real barbarians - Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts [View all]

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/07/vast-scale-of-overseas-human-remains-held-in-uk-museums-decried-by-mps-and-experts

Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways
Which human remains are held in UK museums – and where?


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.

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