FOI_24-293 Human remains held within the institution

Date of response: 12 November 2024

We have now considered your request of 17 October 2024 for the following information:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please provide me with the following information about human remains that are currently held by your institution.
To assist you with this request this information should be recorded in the collections’ database, list or inventory.
Where there are gaps in your records that limit the information you can provide please explain these in response to the relevant question.
For questions 1, 3, 4 5, 6 and 8, if precise numbers are not available please provide an estimate. If you do not know, or cannot provide an estimate, please say ‘unknown’.
N.B. The term ‘items’ in the questions below refers to individual items of human remains. This includes human bone, skulls, skin, hair, nails, and other body parts - including ‘modified’ or composite items as well as ‘unmodified’ human remains.

Clarification received 21 October 2024:

‘The only relevant institution is the university. I'm requesting information about any human remains you hold.

Collections could refer to items on display or in storage. They could be in any galleries, libraries or museums the university might operate or in its central or departmental archives.

The only human tissue not relevant to my request would be any used in current medical research. The request does not exclude human remains held for teaching purposes, only material used in current medical research.’

Question 1. How many individual items of human remains are recorded on a database, list or other overview of the current holdings of the institution?

Our response:

A total of 11 individual items of human remains are recorded in current holdings. Please note these are all held within our Norwich Medical School, and all further responses are based on data held relating to these items.

Please note that the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA), is an art collection, and not a museum. The SCVA does not specifically hold human remains as this is not the nature of the collection’s history or composition.

The SCVA does hold some items which includes remains but there are no records which identify or confirm these items as being of human origin. As an example, there may be an artwork which contains a bone or fragment of bone, but we do not hold any records of the origin having been identified as human or another animal. Therefore, our responses are based only on data held by the Norwich Medical School.

Question 1.1 Does this figure include items on loan to the institution? (Please answer yes or no.)

Our response:

No.

Question 1.2. If it does, how many of these items are loaned to the institution?

Our response:

Not applicable.

Question 1.3. Does this figure include items loaned to other institutions? (Please answer yes or no.)

Our response:

No.

Question 1.4 If it does, how many of these items are on loan to other institutions?

Our response:

Not applicable.

Question 1.5 How many individuals are represented by the items of human remains held?

Our response:

111.

Question 2. Which of the following types of human remains are held in your collections? Please answer yes or no to each:
2.1 Skeletons (whole and partial)
2.2 Bones (whole and fragments
2.3 Skulls (whole and partial)
2.4 Skin
2.5 Hair and scalps
2.6 Nails
2.7 Other body parts
2.8 Mummified remains
2.9 ‘Modified’ or composite items, such as handmade artefacts that include human remains

Our response:

2.1 – Yes

2.2 – Yes

2.3 – Yes

2.4 – No

2.5 – No

2.6 – No

2.7 – Yes

2.8 – No

2.9 – Yes

Question 3. According to your records, how many of these items originate from the UK?

Our response:

All.

Question 3.1 Of these items, how many are clearly evidenced as having come from archaeological excavations in the UK?

Our response:

None.

Question 4. According to your records, how many of these items originate from outside of the UK?

Our response:

None.

Question 4.1 Of these items, how many are clearly evidenced as having come from archaeological excavations from outside of the UK?

Our response:

None.

Question 5. Are further human remains currently in the collection of the institution that are not currently recorded on a collection database or other inventory? (Please answer yes or no.)

Our response:

No.

Question 5.1 If so, how many items are not currently on the institution’s collections database?

Our response:

Not applicable.

Question 6. How many of the total number of human remains currently held or cared for by your institution are clearly recorded as having provenance from specific continents?
Please provide the number of items from:
6.1 Europe
6.2 Asia
6.3 Africa
6.4 North America
6.5 South America
6.6 Oceania
6.7 Continent unknown

Our response:

6.1 – 111 (all UK)

6.2 – None

6.3 – None

6.4 – None

6.5 – None

6.6 – None

6.7 – None

Question 7. Has your institution ever undertaken a formal or informal review, assessment, audit or review of its current holdings of human remains, and/or of their storage, documentation and provenance? Please answer yes or no.

Our response:

Yes. The University has undertaken an audit of current holdings.

Question 7.1 If yes, please provide an electronic copy of the review/s. If no electronic copy exists, please provide the title of the review/s and the date/s of publication.

Our response:

Please see accompanying document, our ref: FOI_24-293 Appendix A.

Question 8. How many requests for the return, restitution or repatriation of human remains have you received from outside of the UK over the past five financial years? Please provide the data for each year and the five year total.
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Total:

Our response:

2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Total
0	0	0	0	0	0

Question 8.1 How many items have been returned to their country of origin as a result of these requests? Please provide the data for each year and the five year total.

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24

Total:

Our response:

2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Total
0	0	0	0	0	0