UK university returns warrior skulls to Taiwan’s Indigenous Paiwan people

Pan Chuang-Chih, the mayor of Mudan, and Gavin McLachlan (right), from the University of Edinburgh mark the return of the skulls [Courtesy of the University of Edinburgh]

The University of Edinburgh has returned the skulls of four Paiwan warriors to Taiwanese Indigenous leaders, nearly 150 years after their deaths.

The repatriation is the first of its kind for Taiwan, according to the university, and comes as Edinburgh and similar institutions across Europe reckon with their colonial past.