Archaeology is the study of the artifacts and remains of humans from all around the world. This study is carried out by methods including surveying sites, excavations and classifying of artifacts found. Through these methods, a sense of cultural identity can be found. However, Colonialism in Africa and Nationalism in the Middle East obscure the true cultural identity of the native inhabitants of countries such as Zimbabwe and Israel. This essay will define colonialism in relation to the example of Zimbabwe and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe to explore how colonialism interacts with archaeology. Furthermore, nationalism in Israel regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role archaeology plays in this will be discussed.
Colonialism is defined as the practice of one nation establishing political, social, and economic power over another nation (Nowell, et al., 2018). This is usually achieved through “military organization, political power, and economic wealth”, that a country such as The United Kingdom had (Arbor, 1992). Powerful countries like Spain, France, and England emerged and started to colonize nations from the 16th century and by the end of the 18th century colonization played an integral role in their societies due to the wealth the countries received from trade (Nowell, et al., 2018). To further expand their rule, Africa was divided into colonies for the European countries at the end of the 19th century with England having a few colonies in Southern Africa such as Rhodesia and Bechuanaland which are now known as Zimbabwe and Botswana (Nowell, et al., 2018).
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Through colonial rule, citizens of the colonized nations were forced to abandon their traditional cultures and religions so that they could live the way of life that their colonizers do. Christianity would often be the religion forced upon the people who live in the colonized nations and this religion is still evident in many African countries today (Hogan, 2000). The names of the countries were given by the European powers who divided Africa into colonies. This disregard for natural human settlement is another example of how indigenous groups had to leave behind their lives and adopt what the colonizers had forced upon them (Hogan, 2000). This practice of forcing indigenous populations to abandon their way of life and cultural identity is where colonialism interacts with archaeology. The main goal of archaeology is to learn more about the humans who lived before us. This cannot be done if people are being compelled to forget about their past to assimilate into European colonialist culture. For indigenous groups in colonized nations, archaeology is very important as it provides evidence that presents their “roots and their historical rights to the land” that has been colonized (Lyndon & Rizvi, 2010). The “discourse of origins” is a term explained in archaeology from the 19th to the 20th century that denies and restricts “humanity to a large proportion of humankind” by either destroying what is deemed as not worthy of recoding or claiming monuments, that were believed not to be indigenous because of “evolutionist prejudices’, as their own (Lyndon & Rizvi, 2010). Some remains of indigenous groups are lost, destroyed, disregarded, or tampered with which meant that valuable archaeological practices could not take place (Lyndon & Rizvi, 2010). The colonialist propelled their white European narrative to gain power, exploit the indigenous groups, and eradicate history that did not favor them. An example of this is the ruins of Great Zimbabwe that are found in Zimbabwe formerly known as Rhodesia when it was under British rule.
The ruins of Great Zimbabwe are located on Zimbabwe’s Lowveld, about 30km from Masvingo. It is believed that they were built between the 11th and 15th centuries and they were inhabited during that period. The Great Zimbabwe National Monument stretched over 30ha and is divided into “the Hill Ruins, the Great Enclosure, and the Valley Ruins” (UNESCO, 2019). The ruins of Great Zimbabwe, which exhibit a wide variety of infrastructure, are made from many materials such as granite and clay which shows the complexity of the monument. It has been proven through archaeological excavations and scientific research that the Bantu and Shona people lived in Great Zimbabwe and were the groups that built the monument (UNESCO, 2019). This African origin story was not prevalent and allowed during the colonialist rule of Zimbabwe due to the evolutionist and racist theories that prevailed during that time.
The idea that a white man built and discovered the ruins of Great Zimbabwe was favored more than the idea that black Africans built them. A white German explorer, Carl Mauch, is associated with the “discovery” of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. Mauch “discovered” the monument in 1871 when he went looking for them after hearing news “namely of the presence of quite large ruins which could never have been made by blacks” (Fontein, 2006). With that statement alone, it was clear that Mauch had a colonialist mindset that reinforces the narrative that black people could not build anything of great value. After his “discovery”, Mauch spoke to the “natives” and found out that “white people had once lived in this country” which further affirmed his belief that only white people could create the monument of Great Zimbabwe (Fontein, 2006). The archaeology of the indigenous Bantu and Shona people was disregarded to make way for the forced and untrue origin story of the white colonialist. In a previous exploration, Carl Mauch was attributed to the discovery of gold in the Hartley Hills (Fontein, 2006). All of these “discoveries” encouraged white settlers to join the British South Africa Company’s pioneer column in 1890. This further increased the influx of people with colonialist mindsets who wanted to erase the archaeology of indigenous groups.
Great Zimbabwe acted as a “symbol of the essential rightness and justice of colonization” and during Cecil Rhode’s visit to the monument it was said that “local Karanga chiefs were told that the 'Great Master' had come to see the ancient temple which once upon a time belonged to white men” (Fontein, 2006). The true origin story of Great Zimbabwe was reduced further due to the poor management and preservation during excavations of the site which saw unauthorized people entering the site and indigenous groups being moved away and alienated from the monument. Today, there is a fence around Great Zimbabwe and a person must pay to enter the park (Fontein, 2006). Although it has become a heritage site and the true origins of the monument have been revealed, Great Zimbabwe acts as a site where colonialism and archaeology interacted with one another. Just as archaeology interacts with colonialism, it also interacts with nationalism.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines nationalism as “loyalty and devotion to a nation”. This can be interpreted in many ways, the first being positive; having love and pride for one’s nation. The second interpretation is negative; being too devoted to one’s nation that all other nations are deemed inferior. Both interpretations are seen today however the second interpretation is seen more often. In recent years, nationalism in countries like the USA has spiked due to politics. In Ann McFeatters’ “Nationalism is not a good thing”, she explains how the election of Donald Trump in 2016 saw a rise in nationalism after Trump called himself a nationalist (McFeatters, 2018). However, this nationalism in the USA is a form of the second interpretation where one has too much loyalty and devotion to a nation. To be a nationalist today is to push the agenda and narrative of one’s own nation and this is seen in the USA when McFeatters says “To be a nationalist is not a good thing; its connotation means far-right, racist white power” (McFeatters, 2018). The justification for this statement is that a young woman was murdered at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, USA. This woman was a democrat who was protesting the rally due to its racist connotations. After the murder of this young woman, Trump released a statement in which he said that the violence of the nationalists was the same as those who were protesting the rally. Due to this statement, many people who are a part of the democratic party in the USA believe Trump is a white nationalist and compare him to another nationalist leader: Adolf Hitler (McFeatters, 2018). Hitler used nationalism to protect his racial and cultural identity while aiming to destroy the same identities of Jewish, Black, and Homosexual individuals, to name a few. McFeatters believes that Trump is trying to protect his white racial identity by using nationalism when he told his supporters that “he can defy the Constitution and declare that babies born to immigrants in America are not citizens”. He has also sent American Troops to the southern border of the USA to ensure that no illegal immigrants come into the USA (McFeatters, 2018). By doing these things, Trump is using nationalism to protect a future for white Americans. The archaeology of future America will be influenced by this nationalism as minority groups could be ousted from the USA due to white nationalism. Much as the USA is affected by nationalism, Israel and Palestine are being influenced by the nationalist Israeli government which is trying to prove that the Israelites own the land by using archaeology.
Archaeological excavations, teaching, and institutes are often funded by the state as they are very expensive (Sommer, 2017). To pay back the money, in a sense, archaeologists provide physical remains for the country and the people who live in it. This is seen in Israel where the Israeli government has given a budget of 100 million shekels to Israeli archaeologists in the City of David and the Historic basin (Ezrahi & Mizrachi, 2019). These excavations are overlooked by the Israel Antiquities Authority, but this does not stop the archaeologists from skewing the archaeological record because of their nationalism which is reiterated by Amos Elon when he states “Israeli archaeologists do not only dig for knowledge and objects, but for a reassurance of their roots.” (Ezrahi & Mizrachi, 2019).
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict began due to both groups believing that they have the right to Jerusalem (Ezrahi & Mizrachi, 2019). The conflict is driven by the single narratives of both the Israelites and the Palestinians. Nationalism fuels these narratives as the love and devotion for one’s nation and the religious beliefs that only one group belongs in Jerusalem is triumphing over any other reasoning in the conflict. Although the nationalist ideals of both Israel and Palestine can be harmful as they disregard any other group of people living on the same land as them, the nationalism in Israeli archaeology is very dangerous because archaeological records are being misconstrued to fit the narrative that the Israelites belong in Jerusalem (Ezrahi & Mizrachi, 2019).
In Israel and Palestine, archaeology has become a tool of politics and is called “archaeological warfare” (Ezrahi & Mizrachi, 2019). In June of this year, 2019, Jerusalem’s “Pilgrimage Road” was inaugurated by “ U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt and according to archaeologists “the route was taken by Jewish pilgrims as they ascended to the Second Temple some 2,000 years ago.” (Shiff, 2019). However, this tunnel lies under the Palestinian neighborhood, Silwan. This neighborhood has been a target of Israelis as they want to Judaize the area (Shiff, 2019). Both nations do not talk about what Chemi Shiff describes as the “elephant in the room” which is that an archaeological site that contains so much history cannot be used to prove the claims of “ethnonational groups” (Shiff, 2019). This is where nationalism and archaeology meet; the Israeli archaeologists, who are funded by the Israeli government, are looking for Israeli remains to prove that Israeli belongs in Jerusalem. With this nationalism, no other points of view are being considered, especially the Palestinian's point of view. The pasts of Palestinians are being tampered with or erased to push the narrative of Israelites having rights to the land. The archaeology that took place when excavating the “Pilgrimage Road” is labeled as “bad archaeology” due to Israel “creating a narrative below the ground to justify its occupation above the ground.” (Gornall, 2019).
This shows that nationalism collaborates with archaeology when politics come into play and claims over land must be proved. This is an unreliable source of archaeology as the results of the excavations may have a bias due to beliefs and governmental influence.
While examining archaeological remains from a site that dealt with colonialism or nationalist ideals, one must consider the bias and prejudice that they can contain. These biases were used to erase the cultural identity and archaeological records of other nations for political, social, and economical gain. This was seen in Great Zimbabwe when the monument was falsely discovered by a white colonialist who was pushing the narrative that black, indigenous groups could not have built the monument in Great Zimbabwe as it was too advanced. The erasing of cultural identity is seen today in Israel where Israeli archaeologists are using bad archaeology as proof that the Israelites have the right to claim Jerusalem. This essay has discussed colonialism with the example of Great Zimbabwe and has explained how colonialism and archaeology interact. Additionally, the interaction between nationalism and archaeology was examined in relation to the archaeology taking place in Israel. The interactions between colonialism, nationalism, and archaeology prove that archaeological remains can be used to push a narrative and prove a point.
References
- Arbor, A., 1992. In: N. Dirks, ed. Colonialism and Culture. USA: The University of Michigan Press.
- Ezrahi, T. & Mizrachi, Y., 2019. Israel Is Using Archeology To Erase Non-Jewish History. Forward, 29 May.
- Fontein, J., 2006. The Silence of Great Zimbabwe. 1st ed. Abingdon: UCL Press.
- Gornall, J., 2019. Israel uses archeology to claim rights over Palestine. [Online] Available at: https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/08/opinion/israel-uses-archeology-to-claim-rights-over-palestine/ [Accessed 7 September 2019].
- Hogan, P., 2000. Colonialism and Cultural Identity. 1st ed. Albany: State University of New York.
- Lyndon, J. & Rizvi, U., 2010. COLONIALISM AND EUROPEAN ARCHAEOLOGY. In: Handbook of Postcolonial Archaeology. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, pp. 39-50.
- McFeatters, A., 2018. Nationalism is not a good thing. VC Star, 4 November.
- Nowell, C., Magdoff, H. & Webster, R., 2018. Western colonialism. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Western-colonialism [Accessed 7 September 2019].
- Shiff, C. M. Y., 2019. Using archeology in the service of nationalism. +972 Magazine, 5 July.
- Sommer, U., 2017. Archaeology and Nationalism. In: M. Gabriel, ed. Key Concepts in Public Archaeology. London: UCL Press, pp. 166-186.
- UNESCO, 2019. Great Zimbabwe National Monument. [Online] Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364/ [Accessed 8 September 2019].
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