Edinburgh University returns indigenous skulls to Japan

Three skulls from Japan that were given to Edinburgh University in 1913 have been returned to the indigenous community where they originated.

The remains of the Ainu people – donated by Scottish anthropologist Dr Neil Gordon Munro – were held in the university's anatomy museum.

Dr Munro lived and died among the Ainu while studying their culture in northern Japan.

The skulls were repatriated in a traditional Ainu ceremony at the university. They will be interred at a museum and memorial site in Hokkaido.