In a ceremony held in Edinburgh, the National Museum of Scotland has officially returned a collection of 18th-century Mapuche silver pectorals and sacred ceremonial objects to Chilean authorities. These artifacts, known as trapelakucha, are deeply significant to the Indigenous Mapuche people of South-Central Chile, representing both social status and spiritual connection to the cosmos.
The repatriation follows a three-year provenance investigation which concluded that the items were likely acquired under duress during colonial expansion in the late 1700s. The objects will be integrated into the collection of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino in Santiago before being shared with Mapuche community centers for cultural revitalization programs. This return is seen as part of a broader shift in UK museum policy regarding Indigenous ancestral heritage.