London's Natural History Museum and Cambridge University have said that they are ready to co-operate with Zimbabwe to return human remains that were taken in the colonial era.
According to a representative of London's Natural History Museum, Liz Clark-Lim, the museum was committed to working with the Zimbabwean government to process this request and recently welcomed a delegation from Zimbabwe for discussions on the repatriation of the remains of 11 people.
The museum had uncovered the remains “that appear to be originally from Zimbabwe”, the BBC reported this week.
The Natural History Museum, which houses 25 000 human remains, and the Cambridge University's Duckworth Laboratory, with 18 000, have some of the largest such archives in the world.
It’s alleged that during the colonial era, body parts were sometimes removed from battlefields or dug up from graves as trophies.
These include three skulls taken in 1893, thought to be from Bulawayo, as well as remains uncovered in mine shafts and archaeological digs and later donated to the museum.
In 2021, Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa suggested that the remains of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes be removed from the Matopos National Park in Matabeleland South and returned to the UK, in exchange for colonial-era skulls.
Godfrey Mahachi, who led the delegation to the UK, said that for Zimbabweans, the removal of the head “means that you have literally punished the person beyond the grave”.
Social media weighs in
One social media user demanded the return of warrior heads taken during colonial rule. “We have to perform cleansing ceremonies.”
“ ‘The Natural History Museum, with 25 000 human remains, and the Duckworth Laboratory, with 18 000, have some of the largest such archives in the world.’ What a sentence. Human remains, archived. About time our museums began facing up to this.” #Empireland