Uganda welcomes return of 39 artefacts from Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Also Uganda is particularly keen to see the return of the Luzira head, a sculpture thought to be more than 1,000 years old, which was dug up in 1929 on the outskirts of Kampala and is now in the British Museum.

According to news of Geraldine Kendall Adams from Museums Journal; The Uganda Museum, in the country’s capital Kampala, held a welcome reception this week to celebrate the return of 39 artefacts from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

The items were taken from Uganda during the 1890s and early 1900s by British colonial administrators, anthropologists, missionaries and soldiers. Many of them were given to British museums by Reverend John Roscoe, an anthropologist and missionary from the UK. They arrived back in the country on Saturday 8 June.

The artefacts, which come from the whole of Uganda, include a head-dress made of human hair, acquired from Lango in 1937, decorated pots from Ankole, acquired in the 1920s, a Lubaale vessel from Buganda, acquired in 1907, and a collection of sacred figures with significant ritual importance in Buganda culture.

They are on loan for an initial period of three years and will remain part of the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The deal is renewable and allows for the possibility of a permanent loan and local ownership.

The Uganda Museum is expected to put on a temporary exhibition of the objects next year.