BROKEN HILL MAN CONTROVERSY:IS UK READY TO SURRENDER ORIGINAL SKULL TO ZAMBIA AS OPPOSED TO REPLICA ONE?
This controversy is highly likely to ease following the possible return of the Broken Hill Man Skull to Zambia as the matter comes up for hearing before UNESCO in Paris
ZAMBIA’S protracted efforts to recover from the United Kingdom (UK) the early man specimen, the broken hill man skull have heightened again.
The Natural History Museum in the UK is privy to the skull which was discovered in Broken Hill (now Kabwe) on June 17, 1921. Zambia was a British colony then.
However for decades, controversy has surrounded the ownership of the skull with the UK claiming it wholly.
This controversy is highly likely to ease following the possible return of the Broken Hill Man Skull to Zambia as the matter comes up for hearing before UNESCO in Paris .
Tourism and Arts Permanent Secretary Rev. Howard Sikwela, is currently in France leading a delegation of experts to present Zambia’s case for the return of the prehistoric skull.
Rev. Sikwela is leading a delegation of experts namely; Collins Chipote – Executive Director National Heritage and Conservation, Mr. Flexon Mizinga – Director General National Museums Board , Professor Francis Musonda – Senior academic, Dept of historical and Archaeological Studies at UNZA and the Zambian Embassy in France to attend to the Case of the Broken Hill Man which was presented to UNESCO last year.
The matter is scheduled to come up before the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP) to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of illicit appropriation.
Zambia, had earlier requested the UNESCO through the ICPRCP to mediate between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Zambian Government for the return of the specimen which was taken from the country in 1921.
ZAMBIA has since been elected to sit on the United Nations (ducational 6cientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) inter-governmental committee to promote the return of cultural property to countries of origin or restitution in cases of illicit appropriation.
Zambia was elected alongside Angola and Tanzania during the 38th session of the general conference of UNESCO which took place in Paris from November 18-20.
Other countries that were elected are Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Indonesia, Kuwait, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
The Skull was discovered during a mining excavation by the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company who removed it from the country and has been in the custody of the British Natural History Museum ever since.
Zambia has had protracted efforts to recover the early man specimen from the United Kingdom hence the matter being brought before the UNESCO committee.
The Intergovernmental Committee is composed of 22 Member States of UNESCO elected by the General Conference at its ordinary sessions.
It meets in regular plenary session at least once and not more than twice every two years to look into matters of illicit appropriation of cultural property among nations.
Besides the Broken Hill Man case by Zambia, Greece will also present against the United Kingdom in a bid to recover the Parthenon Sculpture.
It meets in regular plenary session at least once and not more than twice every two years to look into matters of illicit appropriation of cultural property among nations.
Previously despite calls for the return of the fossil, Britain was reluctant to release it but was willing to provide Zambia with a replica.
In 2003 the British National Museum vehemently refused to return the skull to Zambia, with some parliamentarians suggesting that the British government should be dragged to court for holding onto the priceless skull which belonged to Zambia.
Then Deputy Minister of
Then Deputy Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Susan Kawandami told Parliament in 2014 that Government had made several attempts to retrieve the skull from the British government and bring it back home.
Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Susan Kawandami told Parliament in 2014 that Government had made several attempts to retrieve the skull from the British home. government and bring it back Ms Kawandami told the House that Government had for many years engaged the British government to influence the return of the skull of Broken Hill Man to Zambia. Ms Kawandami, however, said the British museum, which is governed by a board of trustees, was reluctant to release the skull to Zambia.
She said the British government had failed to intervene but had only offered to make a replica of the skull.
Calls to retrieve this precious specimen attracted a group of Grade 9 pupils from Shanalumba Basic School in Livingstone, who visited the Livingstone Museum, recently.
They appealed to government to ensure that the real Broken Hill man Skull was retrieved from the British government.
The pupils, who were on an educational tour demanded to, see the actual skull of Broken Hillman instead of the replica that is kept in Museum.
Their teacher, Macbeth Mwangala, who was their leader in the educational tour, said it was important that the pupils learnt more about their ancestors and their heritage.
“”The tour was one of the practical undertakings that the school has put in place to equip the pupils with observational learning,” Ms Mwaangala was quoted by local media
Today, a replica of the skull is on display in the Lusaka National Museum but the skull in the exhibition is an identical model purchased online by the Bangkokbased artist Pratchaya Phinthong.
The display is his latest commission. Kamfwa Chishala, a guide at the Lusaka National Museum, has accompanied the exhibition, giving an account of the skull’s history to visitors.
At London’s Chisenhale Gallery.
Curiously the document on the wall facing the skull is an export licence obtained from the National Heritage Conservation Commission in Zambia, as even the replica is classified as a national relic. It is fixed there by two copper nails, copper being Zambia’s main export – what remains to be seen, and the haunting question of Phinthong’s work, is how permanent the location and ownership of Broken Hill Man’s skull will or should be.
According to historians, the skull of Broken Hill Man, dated to 70,000 years ago, gives an indication of what humans of that period looked like.
It was during the next phase – the middle Stone Age – with its refinement in the manufacture of tools, differentiation between populations, and burial of the dead, that modern man probably emerged in Zambia, at least 25 000 years ago.
The family groups of small-statured people living near water and sustaining themselves by hunting the abundant game as well as gathering fruits, tubers and honey from their surroundings.
Accordingly by 15,000 years ago, the Late Stone Age commenced.
People began to live in caves and rock shelters, the walls of which they decorated with paintings.
As the Zambia delegation deliberates on this pertinent matter it is hoped that Britain will bow down to pressure and return the much cherished skull to Zambia.