Maori head to return home after 136 years

PARIS - The mummified and tattooed head of a Maori is returning to New Zealand after spending 136 years in a Normandy museum, a belated gesture to restore dignity to the first of 16 such human heads once displayed as exotic curiosities.

The Rouen Museum tried once before, in 2007, to return the head but was stopped at the last minute by the Culture Ministry. France considers human remains conserved in museums to be among its cultural or scientific heritage.

A symbolic handover ceremony went ahead in Rouen in 2007.