An updated policy on the management of hundreds of indigenous ancestral remains held at the Otago Museum emphasises returning them to the appropriate group.
However, museum director collections, research and education Robert Morris says there is no pressure on Maori or other communities to take possession of their ancestral remains.
They would continue to be safeguarded in the museum’s Wahi Tapu (indigenous remains store).
‘‘We’re here to respond to requests and very keen to progress any claims," Mr Morris said.
"It’s about getting things right.
"They’re safely housed here and will remain to be safely housed here until the appropriate time," he said.
The policy notes that the Otago Museum Trust Board cares for hundreds of ancestral human remains, collected since the late 1800s.
The "vast majority" of them were from the takiwa (territory) of Kai Tahu.
"A small number of ancestral remains from the Chatham Islands (Moriori), other iwi, Pasifika, Australia and Egypt were also held."
"Medical officers, ethnologists, anthropologists and others removed many of the koiwi tangata from their original burial locations through expedition, excavation, trade and exchange or inadvertent discovery".
The policy, approved by the board this month, replaces the earlier Ngai Tahu Koiwi Tangata ["human remains"] Policy, adopted in 1994.
The new policy also outlines the procedures for managing and repatriating such remains.
Under the policy, the board will hold such remains only "at the request of the relevant source community", and intending to return them to the appropriate body or group.
Non-Maori remains are to be kept separately from Maori remains, at the Wahi Tapu (ancestral remains store).
The museum has also updated its policy for holding of "Indigenous Cultural Property", having cared for thousands of such items since the late 1800s.
Most had been acquired through bequests, expedition, trade and exchange, and some were defined as grave goods, ceremonial items, or items of cultural patrimony.
A recent board meeting heard that an indigenous community in the state of Washington, in the United States, had sought the return of garments which were culturally "very significant".
Donated by a benefactor who had bought them in the US, they had been held at the museum for about a century.
Further information was needed before the outcome could be finalised.
A report on the policy change said the board had adopted the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including their rights to "the use and control of their ceremonial objects".
Repatriation of indigenous cultural property was undertaken case by case, after "quite an extensive process" of research.
Claimants had to prove they were a "lineal descendant or culturally affiliated" with the claimed materials, the report said.
