For Immediate Release Media contact: The Field Museum Greg Borzo 312/665-7106 gborzo@fieldmuseum.org Field Museum to return human remains to New Zealand Bones, skulls in collection since World's Columbian Exposition CHICAGO—A delegation from New Zealand will arrive in Chicago on September 3, 2007, to collect the human remains of at least 14 Maori individuals (native New Zealanders) and repatriate them to New Zealand. The delegation will return to New Zealand with the remains on Sept. 6, accompanied by two Field Museum curators and seven representatives of Chicago's American Indian Center. "The Field Museum is doing this not because we have to but because it is the right thing to do," said Dr. John Terrell, Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology at The Field Museum. A repatriation ceremony will be held Monday, Sept. 10, at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) in Wellington, New Zealand, to transfer responsibly for the remains officially from The Field Museum to Te Papa Tongarewa. "This repatriation will be very significant as it will be the first time Maori human remains have been returned to the National Museum of New Zealand from the continental United States," said Arapata Hakiwai, Director Matauranga Maori at Te Papa. The Maori, comprising many tribal groups, or iwi, who make up about 15 per cent of New Zealand's population, are the original settlers of the north and south islands of that country. They are actively seeking the return of Maori human remains from museums around the world. The remains in question here include bones, such as mandibles and crania, and one preserved head with facial tattoos. Nothing is known about the individual identifies of the remains. The Field Columbian Museum purchased most of these remains from a scientific supply house in New York State in 1893 at the conclusion of Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. That museum was formed after the Fair closed to preserve objects and artifacts that had been gathered from around the world and displayed at the Fair. The Field Columbian Museum was later renamed The Field Museum. Continue>>