German museum agrees to return mummified Māori heads to NZ

Thursday, 3 September 2020

Te Papa repatriation head Te Herekiekie Herewini says the museum is cautiously taking its time to consider the best process for the repatriation, given the global pandemic.

Two mummified, tattooed Māori heads (Toi moko) will be repatriated from Germany to New Zealand.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa head of repatriation Te Herekiekie Haerehuka Herewini confirmed an agreement to repatriate two Toi moko, housed at the Berlin Ethnographic Museum, had been approved by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Ancestral Māori heads began entering collections in Europe from 1770, when European explorers such as Captain James Cook and his crew began obtaining curiosities from indigenous communities they encountered on their voyages.

The trade of Toi moko peaked in the 1820s and 1830s, however, the ancestral remains are now returning to New Zealand through the work of the Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Programme, based at Wellington’s Te Papa.

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A restorer works at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany, where the Toi moko will be repatriated from.

“We are extremely pleased the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has agreed to repatriate the two ancestors, however, we also understand the world is presently experiencing a global pandemic, not seen in Aotearoa since the late 1910s,” Herewini said.

“With this in mind, we are cautiously taking our time to fully consider the best process and approach to repatriation in the future.

“At the forefront is to ensure strict adherence to maintaining the mana and tapu of tūpuna, as well as adhering to strict Covid-19 health and safety guidelines presented by the Ministry of Health throughout the whole repatriation process.”

An exact date for the repatriation had not yet been set.

Te Papa in Wellington has worked for years to bring Toi moko back to New Zealand.

The confirmation comes after earlier on Thursday, AP reported that the Ethnographic Museum said it would return the Toi moko which were part of its collection for more than a century.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said the repatriation would take place “as soon as possible”, AP reported.

Toi moko of tattooed, high-ranking Māori tribespeople, mostly men, were ritually preserved by relatives after their death.

During the 19th century Europeans obtained and traded Toi moko, ostensibly for scientific purposes but mostly as specimens for display in museums.

“I'm glad that with the return we can begin to heal the injustice that was committed, even though we won't be able to undo it,” said Herman Parzinger, chairman of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

The heads have been part of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin since 1879 and 1905, AP reported.

The repatriation is the latest in a string of such events, including in 2017 the remains of 59 Māori and Moriori, stolen in a bygone era and taken to museums, being returned to New Zealand.

The remains were brought over by a kaihautū or leader and welcomed in a ceremony at Te Papa.

Remains of 60 people were returned in 2016, and remains of 107 people were returned from the American Natural History Museum in New York in 2014.

Previously, Te Papa’s Arapata Hakiwai said institutions worldwide were beginning to realise the importance of returning remains, and that they were taken by unethical means.

It’s understood Te Papa would help return the remains to iwi.