Following discussions with representatives from the two institutions, the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Cambridge said that they were prepared to work with Zimbabwe to restore the human remains that had been removed during the colonial era.
The authorities in Zimbabwe have long held the suspicion that some of the leaders of the revolt against British rule known as the first Chamornga in the nineteenth century’s nineties had their remains transported to the United Kingdom. Zimbaboians are currently looking for the skulls of anti-colonial heroes from the late nineteenth century.
The Muboya Nihanda, a lady who was executed in what is now the country’s capital, Harari, and is regarded as a national hero, was one of the most significant of these.
The Museum of Natural History discovered 11 remains “originally from Zimbabwe” during a search of its archives; however, Benanda’s records do not link them. These include three skulls that were taken in 1893, specifically from Paulao, the second city in Zimbabwe, in addition to the remains that were found in archaeological mines and fossils.
In a statement obtained by the BBC, he claimed that he had not specifically identified any of the “a few human remains from Zimbabwe” that were discovered at the Docurate Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. He had merely stated that “a few human remains from Zimbabwe” had been discovered.
The Docuth Laboratory holds 18,000 human remains whereas the Natural History Museum has 25,000. These remains came from a variety of sources, including archaeological digs at ancient sites, although the actual origins of many of them have been lost to time.
Parts of the dead were occasionally taken from the battlefields or graves during the colonial era, either as mementos or for research in a now-credible scientific field.
The science of the brain, which was developed in the nineteenth century and was based on the notion that human traits could be determined from the shape of the skull, was widely used in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.
Human remains taken to Zimbabwe during the colonial era have been returned by British museums.
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