[1] There are obsidian stone tools,[4] wood statuettes, ancient fish hooks, as well as a photographic collection and archives of traditional music.

[1] Due to legacies of colonial extraction from Rapa Nui, as well as the work of international researchers on the island, objects that are culturally significant are held in museums around the world.

[10] In the context of Rapa Nui and repatriation, human remains are not considered property of the Chilean state and must be returned directly to communities.

[10] In 2019 the government of Norway and Chile signed an agreement to enable the return of cultural artefacts and human remains that were taken as part of Thor Heyerdahl's research between the 1950s and 1980s.

[13] On display at the British Museum is Hoa Hakananai’a, a mo'ai whose return to the Rapa Nui people was formally requested in 2019.

This programme involves the sharing of digital models and files of objects in the collection, with the goal of hosting simultaneous exhibitions in both museums, using the same materials in future.