Decolonising the Broken Hill Skull: Cultural Loss and a Pathway to Zambian Archaeological Sovereignty

For more than ninety years, between 1921 and 2012, our knowledge of the Broken Hill Man phase of human evolution has been provided by scholars who have been able to access the skull in England, where it was taken in 1921. This paper presents findings of the circumstances under which the skull was discovered in Northern Rhodesia and taken to England, its significance to science, and issues relating to its return to Zambia. The study grew out of the disillusionment of Zambians due to the reluctance of the Natural History Museum in London to repatriate the skull to its country of origin. The study has established that despite the existence of a legal framework in Northern Rhodesia to regulate the removal of relics from the territory, which was then under the administration of the British South Africa Company, the Rhodesia Broken Hill Mine Company donated the skull to the British Museum (Natural History) without obtaining an export permit. It is within the context of the findings and arguments advanced by the parties involved in the claim of ownership that this paper advocates for the return of the skull to Zambia.