A delegation of Shuar representatives from Ecuador visited the UK this month on a week-long programme to exchange knowledge, strengthen collaboration and learn how different museums in England are “looking after our ancestors”.

The delegation of leaders, elders, students and professors from Ecuador visited the British Museum, Science Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, before ending with a public event on 11 October, hosted by the Pitt Rivers at Oxford’s Museum of Natural History.

Launched eight years ago (2017) and originally titled ‘Rethinking Shuar Objects in (Inter)national Museums’, the project has brought Shuar communities and British curatorial teams together for the first time to discuss the on-going management of hundreds of Shuar objects in UK collections. Inevitably, the most sensitive area of their investigation involves the future care of tsantsas, known more widely as shrunken heads.

The first five years of the project were focussed on trying to establish what exactly the different Shuar federations wanted for the future care of tsantsas along with other Shuar objects. A visit by English museum representatives to Ecuador in 2022 encouraged the different parties to advance discussions further, at the same time re-naming the project ‘Proyecto Tsantsa’. Since then, the verification of tsantsas in UK collections has become a priority, as well as understanding how museums are maintaining the integrity of these remains.

It appears, the more tsantsas are studied, the more questions have been raised and the more tsantsas have come to light. Delegates explained there were lots of different ways of making tsantsas, as well as different reasons for making them. Some were ceremonial, others were made for commercial trading - one gun received in exchange for one head! But while many were sold to western collectors, not all of them were human. In the Pitt Rivers collection, for instance, tomography has been used to show that two of their heads are monkeys and two are sloths. Only six are human.

It was during these investigations that the Pitt Rivers decided to remove their entire collection of tsantsas from public exhibition and place them in storage. It had become clear the Shuar communities did not want them on display. Laura van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers, said she also felt that public exhibition was not helpful in explaining what tsantsas are all about.

Curators at London’s Science Museum (48 tsantsas) and British Museum (17 tsantsas) share the same concerns.

Speaking through an interpreter, Shuar representatives said it’s very important their customs and traditions are respected, as tsantsas are part of the national heritage of Ecuador and are still “sacred to the Shuar community”. While they face their own set of challenges living in the jungle and continue to “adjust to the new world”, they do not wish to see their traditions and spirits removed.

Does this mean the UK’s different collections of tsantsas are heading for repatriation? Right now, various options have been suggested without agreement reached on any single option. There’s certainly no clear agreement whether all or just some of these remains will be returned.

“The Shuar delegation expressed a wish for the repatriation of the ceremonial tsantsas to their territory,” Laura van Broekhoven told us, “and the wish for display of Shuar culture in UK museums through the lens of self-representation and Shuar co-curation of exhibitions.”

The delegation confirmed they understand the majority of remains have been well looked after. They also confirmed at present there’s no agenda in Ecuador to recover their nation’s cultural heritage (“we are not here to take away everything”). But they are seeking visibility and transparency.

“Given the particular cultural contexts of tsantsas (both making and taking),” added van Broekhoven, “the need for further research and analysis have been agreed, including local cultural contextual research and procedural requirements on a regional, national and international level.”

No repatriation requests have been made so far and given the number of different groups involved, any future process is likely to be extremely complicated.

Photo: Shuar delegates at the Pitt Rivers Museum conference event, October 2025