The national museum of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu received five crates of human relics, including skulls and effigies, in the biggest return of sacred items following an eight-year FBI investigation. The items were seized from a deceased New York collector who had amassed 200 sacred items from indigenous cultures worldwide. The effigies were recognized by a curator as containing the skulls of male ancestors from the hill tribes of Malakula. The items were probably stolen from a sacred men’s house in a bush village and trafficked in a global market for human remains. The FBI’s art crime team worked to repatriate the fragile and valuable items back to Vanuatu from New York. The items were identified by an anthropology professor at Indiana University and the Museum of New Zealand. The tribe in Vanuatu, which stopped practicing the tradition of creating effigies 50 years ago, considers the statues to be part of a human being and should not be displayed outside Vanuatu. The return of the items is a significant step in the museum’s efforts to seek the return of relics, including human remains, from around the world. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell emphasized the respect for cultural heritage and the sanctity of these artifacts during a repatriation ceremony in Vanuatu.
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