Human Ancestors Return to Kilwa

Unidentified human ancestors who were removed from their graves in Kilwa District, in the Lindi region, in Tanzania.

Kilwa has, for centuries, been a space of diversity and multiculturalism, and is credited for being the birthplace of Swahili civilisation. The origins of people in Kilwa can be traced to communities that are indigenous to the area, local migrant communities, or Persian, Arabic and Asian communities who travelled through or settled in the area for trading. This means that there are numerous possible origins of the human ancestors from Kilwa.

This case study looks at the significance that the return of human ancestors may have for one of the possible communities of origin; the Nyamzwezi. They are the second largest cultural group in Tanzania, with ancestral footprints in various parts of the region, including Kilwa. Their connection to Kilwa stems from their participation in long-distance trade in the area; serving as porters between the coast and the interior in the 18th and 19th century. 

Graves are an important point of connection between the Nyamwezi community and their ancestors, who are regularly consulted on community and family matters, particularly when there are problems or abnormalities in one’s life. They honour their ancestors by caring for their graves.

The human ancestors from Kilwa were housed in Nairobi, in the British Institute of Eastern Africa’s (BIEA) storeroom, without documentation of their origins, since 1961. They were repatriated to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in March 2023, and are stored at the National Museum of Tanzania.

In 1957, British scholar and archaeologist Dr. Neville Chittick became the first conservator of antiquities in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). During his tenure, he removed human ancestors from their graves in Kilwa, with the intention of using them to further his research into Swahili civilisation. 

In 1961, Chittick was appointed the Director of the newly established British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) in Nairobi, Kenya. Due to the lack of regulation of Europeans’ movements across British colonies at the time he was able to take what he had gathered in Tanganyika with him to Kenya. His intention was to send the human ancestors to England for further analysis, but this never happened. The human ancestors, whose origins were not noted or determined, were kept in BIEA’s storage. 

Tanzanians and Kenyans remained unaware of this, as the institute continued to serve European researchers and their interests, even after Kenya gained independence in 1963.

The impact of the loss to the communities of origin is not yet known, as the origins of the human ancestors have not been determined. If they belong to the Nyamwezi community, it is believed that the disruption of a grave leads to cursed ancestors, and in turn a cursed people.

In 2010, the BIEA appointed its first Kenyan director, Prof. Ambreena Manji. Her critical engagement with the collections of European researchers-past rooted an African-centric organisational culture that prioritised intra-Africa repatriation. This included the return of a handful of  belongings and human ancestors from Kilwa to the National Museum of Tanzania in 2016. However, the bulk of the collection from Kilwa remained in Nairobi.

In August 2022, Dr. Kennedy Gitu (then research fellow at BIEA) and Dr. Emmanuel Yacobo (Director of the National Museum of Tanzania)  were both participants in the 16th Congress of The Pan African Archaeological Association For Prehistory And The Related Studies, in Zanzibar. Gitu approached Yacobo and advised him of the large number of human ancestors that were still in BIEA’s care, even after their first return of belongings from Kilwa, in 2016. He also advised that the BIEA had funding available to transport the human ancestors to Tanzania, but that they would need to act quickly, as the funding would no longer be available once BIEA reached the end of its financial year in March the next year.

Upon returning to their respective regions, Gita and Yacobo continued communicating via email. Through this exchange they were able to compile a catalogue of belongings and human ancestors from Kilwa, albeit without a consolidated record of their origins. 

In September 2022, they then sent the catalogue and a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (the state branch responsible for antiquities in Tanzania) to request a permit to repatriate the remaining collection from Kilwa. Gita also informally approached his colleagues at the National Museums of Kenya, to enquire what procedure had to be followed to repatriate the collection at BIEA.  His fellow researcher advised him to write a formal letter that detailed the materials in their custody, and that requested permission for BIEA to return them to the National Museum of Tanzania.

The permit from the National Museum of Kenya was granted quickly, however the Ministry of National Resources and Tourism in Tanzania was unresponsive. With the cut-off for funding fast approaching, the BIEA decided to go forth with logistical planning and transportation of the belongings and human ancestors from Kilwa. The collection from Kilwa weighed over one ton in its entirety, which made air travel impossible.

Therefore, the BIEA decided to use road travel to transport the belongings and human ancestors from Kilwa. When they arrived at the border, they produced their permit from the National Museums of Kenya, and explained what the materials were, why they could not delay their transportation, and why they did not yet have a permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. The receiving customs official called the Director of the National Museum of Tanzania for confirmation of these details, and after obtaining assurance from Yacobo that the museum would be receiving the collection from Kilwa into its care, the BIEA team was granted passage into Tanzania. 

The National Museum of Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam has since been the custodian of the human ancestors and belongings from Kilwa. This repatriation is a step towards ensuring that the deceased are afforded their proper burial, according to the burial rites and ritual from their descendant cultural group. However, reuniting the human ancestors with their communities of origins for the purpose of proper burial has proven difficult. 

The Grave (Removal) Act of Cap. 72 [2002], and its derivative policies and regulations outlines protocols for the moving of burial sites, and prioritises the community of origin’s burial customs in ensuring that human ancestors are honoured and laid to rest accordingly. In this case, the lack of information around origins of the human ancestors makes the process of community identification – and by extension communal attachment or accountability for their burial – complex.

In addition, Kilwa is still, to this day, a multi-cultural area, with each group maintaining their own burial rites and rituals; ranging from indigenous beliefs and practices to ones flowing from Abrahamic religions. Reburying the human ancestors according to one cultural group’s burial customs over all others would undoubtedly cause conflict. This is the conundrum that the National Museum of Tanzania has surfaced from engaging with various members of the local community. 

As it stands, the human ancestors from Kilwa are being stored in artefact boxes at the National Museum of Tanzania, awaiting a request for their burial.