Heads to be repatriated
Wellington: Two mummified Maori heads will be returned to New Zealand, the Ethnological Museum in Berlin has announced.
The move was ‘‘a signal of reconciliation to the societies affected by colonialism,’’ German federal commissioner for culture and the media Monika Gruetters said in a statement.
Tattooed heads of Maori men, known as Toi moko, were collector’s items during the 19th century. Demand was so great in Europe that slaves and prisoners of war were tattooed and then killed so that their heads could be sold. — AAP