Ancient mummified Maori head returned

French museum officials are returning this mummified Maori warrior head to New Zealand after more than a century at the Museum of Rouen in northern France.

From the BBC:

At the town hall in Rouen, a traditional ceremony took place, where Maori elders performed chants, prayers and other rituals to honor the dead man. The Maori elders then rubbed noses with Mayor Valerie Fourneyron, a traditional Maori greeting, before signing the restitution agreement.
New Zealand first began requesting the return of the relics in the 1980s, but France's laws on cultural artifacts meant it could not give up the Maori heads in its possession.
In 2007, Rouen's council voted to send theirs back, but were overruled by the Ministry of Culture, which feared it could set a precedent for countries to reclaim their historical artefacts.
New Zealand's Dominion Post newspaper reported that the delegation would be bringing home nine heads in total.
"The French government have provided Te Papa, on behalf of Maori, the ability to bring these ancestors home," Maori leader Michelle Hippolite told the paper.

France hands back Maori mummified head to New Zealand