Artist offers his head for shrinking

LONDON, May 22 (UPI) -- A British children's book writer and artist has offered his own head to replace a collection of shrunken heads that a museum may return to South America.

Ted Dewan says that he would leave his head to the Pitt Rivers Museum with instructions that it should be shrunk and put on display in a "family-friendly" manner, the BBC reported.

"I shall also leave enough funding specifically to cover the costs of storage, shrinking, curating, and maintenance of the shrunken head in the Victorian display case," he said. "Perhaps the case could be relabeled 'Treatment of Dead Benefactors.' "

The museum has a collection of 10 shrunken heads that demonstrates how some tribes in the Upper Amazon region collected trophies from their enemies. The case is labeled "Treatment of Dead Enemies."

Like other anthropological museums, the Pitt Rivers is reconsidering its collections of human remains. The Natural History Museum in London recently agreed to repatriate Tasmanian remains.