List of Repatriations from Scottish Museums

Repatriation and restitution returns from Scottish museum have been happening over a number of decades. In a museum context, restitution is about the return of ancestral remains or cultural objects held in museum collections, to communities or individuals. Repatriation (or rematriation) involves the return of ancestral remains or cultural objects to nations or states.

This page lists known returns of both cultural and sacred objects and ancestral remains from Scottish Museums dating back to 1990. It also lists requests for returns that have been rejected. The list is updated regularly.

Request Outcome	Year	Request made by	To Museum or Organisation	Item description	Other description	Return initiated	Where is the object held now?	Total time to return	Further Info
Repatriation	1990	Australian High Commission	Glasgow City Council	Aboriginal Australian ancestral remains: Skull and Skull fragments		Requested	Return to Gangulu people, Mount Morgan, Queensland	2 Months June 1990 - August 1990
Repatriation	1991	Tasmanian Aboriginal representatives	University of Edinburgh	Aboriginal Tasmanian ancestral remains		Requested
Repatriation	1992	National Museum of Australia	University of Edinburgh	Aboriginal Australian ancestral remains		Requested
Repatriation	1997		University of Edinburgh	Aboriginal Tasmanian ancestral remains: hair samples		Requested
Repatriation	1999	Cook Islands National Museum	Angus Council	Cook Islands Necklaces		Requested	Cook Islands National Museum
Repatriation	1999	Wounded Knee Survivors Association	Glasgow City Council	Ghost Dance Shirt	Ghost Shirt' of cotton cloth with feather ornament, blessed by 'Short Bull'. Supposed to render the wearer invulnerable. Taken from Sioux warrior, killed at Battle of Wounded Knee, 30 December 1890	Requested	Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota	6 Years 1992 - 1998	Initial request in 1992 was rejected
Repatriation	2000		University of Edinburgh	Hawai'in ancestral remains		Requested
Repatriation	2000	National Museum of Australia	University of Edinburgh	Aboriginal Australian ancestral remains		Requested	National Museum of Australia
Repatriation	2003	Blood Tribe/Kainai Nation Horn Society	University of Aberdeen	Sacred bundle	Kainai split horn headdress	Requested	Title transferred Mookaakin Heritage Foundation (Canada), to enable transfer to tradional keepers	6 Months Formal request - 29 November 2022 Decision - 27 March 2003
ex gratia payment following 2004 NMDC Spoliation Advisory Panel judgment	2004	Descendents of owners	Glasgow City Council	Art: Still Life attributed to Chardin		Requested	Work remains part of Burrell Collection
Repatriation	2005	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand (Aotearoa)	Glasgow City Council	Toi moko and koiwi tangata (Māori ancestral remains)		Requested	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand
Repatriation	2005	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand - Aotearoa	Perth & Kinross Council	Toi moko (Māori ancestralremains)		Requested	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand
Repatriation	2006	Australian High Commission	Glasgow City Council	Torres Straits Islander ancestral remains: mummified child		Requested	National Museum of Australia
Repatriation	2007	Australian High Commission	Glasgow City Council	Torres Straits Islander ancestral remains: 5 skulls	Mer Island	Requested	National Museum of Australia
Repatriation	2007	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand - Aotearoa	University of Aberdeen	Toi moko	Māori ancestral remains (9 individuals)	Requested, following contact by museum	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand	1 Year 11 months Formal request - 16 June 2004 Decision - 15 May 2006
Repatriation	2008	Australian Government	National Museums of Scotland	Aboriginal Australian ancestral remains: 6 skulls		Requested
Repatriation	2008	Ngarrindjeri People, Australia	National Museums of Scotland	Ngarrindjeri ancestral remains: Skull		Requested
Repatriation	2008	Ngarrindjeri People, Australia	University of Edinburgh	Ngarrindjeri ancestral remains: Ear bone		Requested
Repatriation	2008	Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Australia	National Museums of Scotland	Aboriginal Tasmanian ancestral remains		Requested	Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
Repatriation	2008	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand - Aotearoa	National Museums of Scotland	Māori ancestral remains		Requested
Repatriation	2009	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand - Aotearoa	University of Glasgow	Toi moko (Māori ancestral remains)		Requested
Repatriation	2011	Australian High Commission	Glasgow City Council	Australian Aboriginal ancestral remains -unprovenanced	Remains of three individuals	Requested	National Museum of Australia
ex gratia payment following 2014 NMDC Spoliation Advisory Panel judgment	2014	Estate of owner	Glasgow City Council	Art: early 16th-century Swiss tapestry fragment, The Visitation		Requested	Work remains part of Burrell Collection
Repatriation	2015	Wairoa Museum, Hawke's Bay: Aotearoa New Zealand	Scottish Borders Council (Hawick Museum)	Hauhau flag (Māori war flag)		Requested	Wairoa Museum, Hawke's Bay
Repatriation	2016	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand - Aotearoa	Moray Council (Falconer Museum)	Māori ancestral remains		Requested	Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand
Restitution	2019	Wanniyalaeto Vedda elders: Sri Lanka	University of Edinburgh	Vedda ancestral remains: 9 Skulls		Requested
Restitution	2020 (decision)	Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre: Australia	University of Aberdeen	Aboriginal Tasmanian ancestral remains		Request proposed by museum	Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre	3 Months Formal request - 24 December 2019 Decision - 24 March 2020
Repatriation	2020	Canadian Museum of History	National Museums of Scotland	Beothuk ancestral remains: Skulls		Requested	The Rooms, St. Johns, Newfoundland
Repatriation	2021	Nigerian National Comission for Museums and Monuments (for HRM the Oba of Benin)	University of Aberdeen	Uhunmwu-Elao (Benin Bronze)		Requested	Nigerian National Comission for Museums and Monuments (for HRM the Oba of Benin)
Repatriation	2022	Nigerian National Comission for Museums and Monuments (for HRM the Oba of Benin)	Glasgow City Council	Cultural artefacts from the former Kingdom of Benin: 19 artefacts		Requested	Glasgow City Council	TBC
Repatriation	2022	High Commission of India in London on behalf of Archaeological Survey of India	Glasgow City Council	7 Antiquities, including Tulwar (sword)	Temple and shrine fragments from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andra Pradesh, Assam and Hyderabad	Requested	Archaeological Survey of India; Purana Qila Museum, New Delhi	4 months
Restitution	2022	Le Beau family, representing the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux	Glasgow City Council	25 Lakota cultural items from the massacre at Wounded Knee to the Oceti Sakowin [Oglala Sioux]		Requested	Glasgow City Council
Repatriation	2022	Office of Hawaiian Affairs	Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh - Surgeons' Hall Museums	iwi kupuna (Hawaiian ancestral remains)		Requested
Rematriation	2022	Canada: Nisga'a Nation	National Museums of Scotland	The House of Ni'isjoohl Memorial Pole		Requested	The Nisga'a Museum
Repatriation	2023	National Museum of Prehistory until consultation with Mudan communitites	University of Edinburgh	Paiwan ancestral remains: 4 Warrior Skulls		Requested
Repatriation	2024	N/A	Univeristy of Glasgow: The Hunterian	Giant Jamaican Galliwasp		Return proposed by the museum	Unviersity of the West Indies
Request rejected	1992	Marcella LeBeau	Glasgow City Council	Waistcoat - attributed ownership: Rain-in-the-Face					Ownership transferred 27 July 2023
Request Rejected	1995	Wounded Kneee Survivors Trust	Glasgow City Council	Ghost Dance Shirt					Ultimately restituted in 1999
Request rejected	1996	Oba of Benin / Bernie Grant MP	Glasgow City Council	Benin bronzes and ivories					GCC agreement to return 7 April 2022
Request rejected	1997	Central Wishaw Community Group	Glasgow City Council	18th Century human remains
Request rejected	2004	Association for the return of the Magdala Ethiopean Treasures	University of Edinburgh	Ethiopean Manuscripts