The Broken Hill

21st Session of the ICPRCP 21ème session du Comité intergouvernemental 30-31 May 2018, UNESCO, Paris John Jackson, The Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum

• Founded in 1753 as the British Museum with separate status in 1963. • Collection of 80 million items is used for public engagement and display, education, scientific research and cultural experience. • 4.5 million visitors yearly with free entrance to exhibitions. • Worldwide collaboration on health, biodiversity, earth science, digital collections and other subjects. The status of the Museum

• A public institution that operates with independence from Government. • Collection is the property and responsibility of the Museum Trustees – not of the UK Government. • Strict legal constraints on powers of Trustees to give away, transfer or exchange items under the British Museum Act 1963. What is the Broken Hill skull?

• Fossilized cranium of heidelbergensis • A species found in Africa and Europe from 700k to 150k years ago. • The Broken Hill skull is 250k years old. • Distinct species - lacks the identifying features of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalis. • The cranium has a capacity of 1,280 cm3, large brow ridges and a low forehead.

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2016;371:20150237 Discovery and removal

• Discovered in 1921 in mining operations 90 feet below ground by the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company Ltd. • Large quantities of fossil animal material were discovered at the same site from 1907 and continued to be found after 1921. • Fossil was exported from Northern Rhodesia in 1921, brought to London by the Company. How the skull was acquired

• Directors of the Broken Hill Development Company donated the cranium to the Museum in a letter of 7 November 1921. • The gift was recorded in Museum Trustees’ minutes of 28 November 1921. • Trustees thanked the Directors through the company Chairman, Mr Edmund Davis. • The fossil is owned by the Trustees of the Natural History Museum and is part of the collection. Legal context 1

• It was suggested that the Bushman Relics Proclamation (No.15 1912), made on 8 August 1912 at Pretoria by the High Commissioner of Northern Rhodesia, may apply to the fossil. • The proclamation, copying a 1911 South African Act, aims to protect "Bushman relics and ancient ruins". A "Bushman relic" is defined as "any drawing or painting on stone or petroglyph of the kind commonly known or believed to have been executed by the Bushmen or other aboriginals and shall include any of the anthropological contents of the graves, caves, rock shelters, middens or shell mounds of such Bushmen or other aboriginals". Legal Context 2

• The intention of the proclamation was to protect the material culture of the San people or other people inhabiting or formerly inhabiting the area, echoing the 1911 South African law prompted by the South African National Society’s campaign on rock art • There is no indication that the proclamation was intended to apply or thought at the time to apply to fossils or the remains of other species such as H. heidelbergensis • The proclamation specifies rock art and items from sites clearly associated with the cultural practices of indigenous people: there is no evidence that the site of discovery at Broken Hill was considered to be such a site. Legal Context 3

• There is no detectable legal objection or adverse comment from the authorities in 1921 or later. The fossil find was widely known and publicized in the press in Bulawayo, South Africa and UK. • The fossil’s discovery and transfer was publicly facilitated by the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Company at the highest level • Northern Rhodesia Secretary of Mines was active in making the Museum aware of later discoveries from the mines and liaising with the Company to ensure that these reached the Museum, with no requirement for specific documentation with relation to local law or any suggestion that the proclamation was relevant to fossils or discoveries at this site. Legal Context 4

• There is no indication that the legal authorities in Northern Rhodesia or South Africa regarded or intended any law as limiting the freedom of the Company to possess, export or donate the fossil cranium, or that it was thought to come within the scope of the proclamation. Where is the skull?

• The skull is on free and permanent public display in the Natural History Museum’s Human Evolution gallery, which was opened in 2015 • The gallery shows the diversity and relationships of human relatives and ancestors over the past 7 million years, using casts and original specimens. • The Museum’s international collaborative research on human origins is emphasised in the gallery and in accompanying public programmes.

Conservation & Security

• Cleaned and conserved for the Human Evolution gallery in 2015. Condition is stable. • The cranium is sometimes removed for research use and conservation assessment. • Display in a high specification bespoke case • The case provides a sealed environment, meets national standards for good security and reduces vibration, UV and light.

Research Background

Research in the 1920s and 1930s described the skull and the context of discovery: • Woodward, A.S. (1921) A new cave man from Rhodesia, South Africa. Nature 108: 371–2. • Hrdlička, A. (1926) The Rhodesian Man. Am. J. Phys. Anthrop. 9: 173. • Pycraft, W.P. et al. (1928) Rhodesian Man and Associated Remains. BM(NH), London. • Hrdlička, A. (1930) The Skeletal Remains of Early Man. Smithson. misc. Collns., 83: 98-144. Recent Research • The past century has seen extensive scientific collaboration and wide reference in publications, using new techniques as they are developed. • There has been progressive discovery of fossil remains of and other species that have generated new ideas on the evolution of this group and of our own species, Homo sapiens. • New techiques continue to emerge and to generate new results and insights: CT scanning, DNA analysis, isotope analysis. • The Museum has established a centre of excellence in human evolution research, a focus for international collaboration. Examples of recent research

• Stringer C (2016) The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 371: 20150237. • Balzeau A et al. (2017) The Internal Cranial Anatomy of the Middle Pleistocene Broken Hill Cranium. 2017: 107-138. • Godinho, RM et al. (2018) Supraorbital morphology and social dynamics in human evolution. Nature Ecol. & Evol. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0528-0 • Godinho, RM et al. (2018) The biting performance of Homo sapiens and Homo heidelbergensis. J. Human Evol. 118: 56- 71 • Godinho, RM & O’Higgins, P (2018) The biomechanical significance of the frontal sinus in 1 (Homo heidelbergensis). J. Human Evol. 114: 141-153. Similar fossils

• Homo heidelbergensis was widespread over Africa and Europe • Up to 15 individuals have been found, dated between 700k and 150k years. • The first (Mauer) found in 1907 at Heidelberg in Germany. • Those grouped with Broken Hill are: – Petralona – Greece – Arago – France – Elandsfontein - South Africa – Bodo - Ethiopia Significance 1

• It is the fossil cranium of Homo heidelbergensis, a species existing in parallel to Homo neanderthalis and Homo sapiens. • It is an internationally valuable specimen for research and public understanding of diversity and evolution of Homo. • It is an iconic exhibit for public engagement, on permanent free display in a modern scientific context, accessible to 5 million visitors each year. Significance 2

• The Museum provides open research access to the fossil as a key specimen in an excellent collection for comparative research • Museum scientists collaborate internationally on innovative research to tell us more about this species and its relationships to our own. • The collection and research is combined with new laboratory and digital technology in the Museum to explore new questions.

Past engagement

There has been earlier communication between Zambian and UK representatives: • 1972: correspondence between and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office • 1974: correspondence between Zambia and UK High Commissioner in Lusaka • 1978: correspondence between Zambian and UK Ambassadors at UNESCO • 1982: correspondence between Zambian High Commissioner in London and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Recent engagement

• The Intergovernmental Committee's published modalities of requesting return or restitution state that only when bilateral negotiations have failed or have been suspended can the case be brought before the Committee. • The UK, both at Government and Museum level, strongly believes that there is significant room for progress in bilateral negotiations with Zambia, and a need for closer discussion than the two Member States have had in the past. • Accordingly, UK officials wrote to Zambian counterparts in April 2017 to propose bilateral negotiations, which will allow mutual understanding of the issues and to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution on a bilateral basis. Proposal

• The UK believes this will be the most appropriate and efficient way to proceed at this stage in relation to the request. Bilateral negotiations and discussion should be initiated. • Zambian and UK representatives should agree an agenda for discussion that may include: – the origins and status of the cranium; – the administrative and legal background; – the scientific and cultural importance of the cranium, including ongoing and future research; – options for location and future access; – capacity building and institutional collaboration; and other matters to be agreed.