‘Where angels fear to tread’: ethics, commercial archaeology, and extractive industries in southern Africa

Abstract

This paper draws from two main examples of commercial archaeology, one in South Africa and the other in Namibia, associated with large-scale mining in southern Africa and interrogates the associated ethical issues. It argues that while continuous talk is made about the arrogance of miners, archaeologists must put their house in order by practising good ethics, minimising politics between themselves and being prepared to accept compromises with development to secure a more positive heritage future. Indeed, the issue of ethics has dogged the relationship between archaeology and extractive industries in southern Africa since the late nineteenth century. The power of the mining industry nevertheless meant that southern African mining legislation continued to supersede antiquities laws throughout the twentieth century. However, the emergence of developer-funded environmental impact assessments (EIAs) in the 1970s led to greater demands for accountability and by the 1990s extractive industries were obliged by law in most southern African countries to carry out EIAs throughout the mining process, which spawned a boom in commercial archaeology. Today, as Africa experiences sustained economic growth fuelled by extractive industries, ethical questions continue to be raised regarding the mining industry's commitment to heritage protection. Few, however, seem aware that extractive industries can bestow significant favours upon archaeology, particularly in the areas of site discovery, conservation, training and the funding of basic research.

Cet article considère deux cas d’étude d'archéologie commerciale associée avec des activités minières de grande envergure en Afrique méridionale (l'un est en Afrique du Sud et l'autre en Namibie), et examine les questions éthiques qui y sont associées. On parle continûment de l'arrogance des miniers, mais nous avançons que les archéologues doivent d'abord mettre leurs propres affaires en ordre, en s'assurant de suivre les codes déontologiques, en évitant de faire de la politiques entre eux-mêmes, et en étant prêts à accepter des compromis avec le secteur du développement si cela rend possible un avenir plus favorable pour le patrimoine. La question de l’éthique a du reste marqué la relation entre archéologues et industries extractives en Afrique méridionale depuis la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. Le pouvoir des industries minières a néanmoins fait que la législation minière a continué, tout au cours du vingtième siècle, à prendre le pas sur les lois liées au patrimoine. Cependant, l'apparition des évaluations d'impact environnemental (‘environmental impact assessments’, EIAs) dans les années 1970 a conduit à une exigence accrue de redevabilité et, à partir des années 1990, les industries extractives ont été obligées, dans la plupart des pays d'Afrique méridionale, de mener des évaluations d'impact environnemental durant leurs activités minières, donnant naissance à une recrudescence des activités d'archéologie commerciale. Aujourd'hui, alors que l'Afrique est dans une phase de croissance économique soutenue, alimentée par les industries extractives, des questions éthiques continuent à être soulevées concernant le sérieux de l'engagement pris par l'industrie minière envers les questions de protection du patrimoine. Mais bien peu de gens semblent savoir que les industries extractives peuvent offrir des atouts important aux archéologues, en particulier dans la découverte de sites, dans leur préservation, dans la formation et dans le financement de la recherche.

Keywords:

• commercial archaeology
• southern Africa
• mining
• extractive industry
• ethics

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to John Giblin and the editors of Azania: Achaeological Research in Africa for their assistance in the drafting of this paper. John Giblin and Peter Mitchell had to bear with reading and re-reading several drafts that ended up on their desks. Financial support from the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Capacity of the University of Cape Town together with that from the National Research Foundation is acknowledged with sincere gratitude. Discussions with MacEdward Murimbika and Munyaradzi Manyanga broadened the paper's scope. The SAfA-Antiquity travel fund enabled my participation at the Toronto conference of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists in 2012 where some of the ideas contained in this paper were first presented.

Notes on contributor

Shadreck Chirikure is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research interests cover the broad fields of the history of technology and indigenous mining and metallurgy in Africa, as well as the ethics of archaeological practice. His book Indigenous Mining and Metallurgy in Africa has been published by Cambridge University Press.