Human remains in Sir Henry Wellcome's museum collection

The items are contained in this list (PDF 66kb). The accompanying descriptions are generally those that were made at the time of the original cataloguing of the collection in the 1930s, and this is reflected in some of the language used and in territorial attributions that may have subsequently changed.

For detailed enquiries regarding specific human remains, please contact the Science Museum in the first instance.

Further information on the provenance of some of the remains may be available in the archives of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library (1874-1984), held at the library in Wellcome Collection.

You can find out more in our policy on the care of human remains in museums and galleries and you can read our statement of decisions regarding the return of these specific human remains from our collections here:

• three Australian Aboriginal skulls
• a Hawaiian skull
• Māori/Moriori human remains
• a Tasmanian Aboriginal hair sample
• urn containing human ashes