SAPPORO, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that two museums in Australia will repatriate the skeletal remains of Ainu people in their collections. The Ainu people are indigenous to northern Japan, and particularly the island of Hokkaido. Their remains are known to be held in collections in countries including Britain, the United States, and Germany. The three sets of remains known to be held in the two Australian museums are thought to have been shipped overseas between 1911 and 1936. “The repatriation process with Australia will be important in making guidelines for further returns from overseas,” explained Hirofumi Kato of the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies at Hokkaido University. For more, go to “Japan’s Early Anglers.”
Australia Will Repatriate Human Remains to Japan
News June 9, 2017
Recommended Articles
Off the Grid January/February 2025
Tzintzuntzan, Mexico
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2025
Bad Moon Rising
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2025
100-Foot Enigma
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2025
Colonial Companions
-
Features May/June 2017
The Blackener’s Cave
Viking Age outlaws, taboo, and ritual in Iceland’s lava fields
(Photo: Samir S. Patel) -
Features May/June 2017
After the Battle
The defeat of a Scottish army at the 1650 Battle of Dunbar was just the beginning of an epic ordeal for the survivors
(Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo) -
Letter from Greenland May/June 2017
The Ghosts of Kangeq
The race to save Greenland’s Arctic coastal heritage from a shifting climate
(Photo: R. Fortuna, National Museum of Denmark 2016) -
Artifacts May/June 2017
Maya Jade Pectoral
(Courtesy Toledo Regional Archaeological Project, UCSD)