Three elaborately tattooed 19th century Maori heads, a Maori leg bone, and several other artifacts tucked away in a Glasgow museum’s basement for decades are to be returned to New Zealand, according to a unanimous decision by Glasgow’s city council. Wellington, New Zealand’s Te Papa Tongarewa Museum has been searching internationally for preserved Maori heads, or Toi Moko, and other human body parts, which is hopes to repatriate to the Maori. Once the artifacts are returned home, Maori curators hope to identify the tribal origins of each head, allowing for traditional burials. One of the heads found in Glasgow was that of a venerated Maori chief who was known to have had 40 wives.
