Contested archaeological approaches to mass grave exhumations in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Within the last 50 years, present day Zimbabwe, (Figure 1), formerly Rhodesia, a Southern African country, has gone through various pogroms resulting in the death of over 50,000 people in total both within and outside the country. The massacres consist of the Liberation War (1966–1979); political violence characterized by every election since 1980; the Matabeleland Democide (1982–1987); and the diamond conflict in Marange, Eastern Zimbabwe (2006–2018). These various episodes of violence have produced a myriad of human body depositional sites which include mine shafts, mass graves at schools and hospitals, burials at detention centres, pit latrines, and caves. This paper will analyse the disagreements and antagonism between professional archaeologists and vernacular exhumers that emerged during various limited exhumation of mass graves within the country. The paper will conclude by offering avenues of approaches to mass graves exhumation as the material evidence might in future, subject to judicial inquiries, contribute towards truth telling and peace and reconciliation.

KEYWORDS:

• Exhumation
• politics
• forensic archaeology
• mass graves
• material evidence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Njabulo Chipangura

Njabulo Chipangura holds a Phd in Anthropology from the University of Witwatersrand. He was worked for the National Museum and Monuments in Zimbabwe but currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre of Urbanism and Build Environment (CUBES), University of Witwatersrand.

Keith K. Silika

Keith K. Silika holds a Phd in Forensic Archaeology,is an ex police officer from Zimbabwe and is based in the School of Law, Policing and Forensics at Staffordshire University. Research interests are in forensic archaeology, human rights investigation and mass graves.