--- description: The authoritarian ruler of Zimbabwe claims the skulls belong to 19th century fighters who rose up against white settlers. title: Zimbabwe's Ruler Wants U.K. to Return 19th Century Skulls image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd983b63ba47543e2/69885f3acf40a815a6c3f357/468905282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Zimbabwe](/tag/zimbabwe/) ## Zimbabwe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Zimbabwe's Ruler Wants a British Museum to Return Some 19th Century Skulls by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2015 5:18 AM CUT  Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe delivers a speech along with South Africa's President before the signing of various memorandum of understanding between the two countries at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on April 8, 2015 Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe delivers a speech along with South Africa's President before the signing of various memorandum of understanding between the two countries at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on April 8, 2015Stefan Heunis —AFP/Getty Images by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 14, 2015 5:18 AM CUT Zimbabwe’s authoritarian ruler Robert Mugabe says the British Natural History Museum needs to return what he says are the skulls of fighters who rose against British colonial rule at the end of the 19th century Mugabe made the pronouncement during a Heroes Day ceremony—held annually to commemorate war veterans—in the country’s capital, Harare, on Monday, the _Guardian_ [reports](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/mugabe-demands-return-of-skulls-from-londons-natural-history-museum "undefined"). He claims that the skulls belong to the leaders of the First Chimurenga (known in English as the Second Matabele War), a tribal uprising against 4,000 white settlers in the country that was then known as Rhodesia. “Surely, keeping decapitated heads as war trophies, in this day and age, in a national history museum, must rank among the highest forms of racist moral decadence, sadism and human insensitivity,” Mugabe said during his speech. However, the British embassy in Harare says that discussions on the return of the remains began in December 2014, and that Zimbabwe still needs to appoint technical experts to help authenticate them. “It is not yet clear whether these remains are related to the events, places or people referred to in the president’s speech this week,” it said in a [statement](https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/repatriation-of-zimbabwean-remains-in-uk-museum "undefined"). \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/mugabe-demands-return-of-skulls-from-londons-natural-history-museum "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3997700/zimbabwe-skulls-museum-chimurenga-mugabe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3997700/zimbabwe-skulls-museum-chimurenga-mugabe/"},"headline":"Zimbabwe's Ruler Wants a British Museum to Return Some 19th Century Skulls","datePublished":"2015-08-14T05:18:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:10:36.193Z","description":"Robert Mugabe says they are the remains of 19th century insurgents","url":"https://time.com/3997700/zimbabwe-skulls-museum-chimurenga-mugabe/","keywords":["Zimbabwe","colonialism","Robert Mugabe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd983b63ba47543e2/69885f3acf40a815a6c3f357/468905282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd983b63ba47543e2/69885f3acf40a815a6c3f357/468905282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SAFRICA-ZIMBABWE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-DIPLOMACY","caption":"SAFRICA-ZIMBABWE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-DIPLOMACY","creditText":"Stefan Heunis —AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zimbabwe/","name":"Zimbabwe"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3997700/zimbabwe-skulls-museum-chimurenga-mugabe/","name":"Zimbabwe's Ruler Wants a British Museum to Return Some 19th Century Skulls"}}]}] ```