Zimbabwe’s iconic stone birds were taken by colonialists. Finally, they’re all back home 6 days ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Wedaeli Chibelushi @edmnangagwa/X Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa received the sculpture after years of negotiation Zimbabwe’s flag, banknotes and coat of arms all feature a stately looking eagle, sitting majestically on a plinth. Known as the Zimbabwe Bird, it has long been a symbol of national identity, but behind it lies a complex tale of displacement, colonial plunder and restitution. The bird is one of several ancient, treasured sculptures that were taken from Zimbabwe by colonialists and spent decades outside the country’s borders. It was only this week that – after 137 years away – the final displaced bird arrived home, a moment Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa described as “the return of a national icon”. The grey, soapstone carving was repatriated from neighbouring South Africa – it wound up there having been ripped from its column, then sold to British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. On Tuesday, South Africa repatriated the bird, along with eight sets of human remains, previously exhumed in Zimbabwe by colonial researchers and donated to a South African museum. The body parts were taken during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries for “a misguided colonial pseudoscience” South African Minister of Culture Gayton McKenzie said at a ceremony held to hand over the remains and the bird. “These are not abstractions, but people… removed from their graves, their communities, and their homeland under the logic that their bodies were data,” he said. Their return is significant for Zimbabwe, which has also been seeking the return of the skulls of late-19th Century anti-colonial heroes, believed to be in the UK . This week’s homecoming comes at a time when former colonial powers are yielding to campaigns to send looted African remains and artefacts back to their home countries. The vast majority of returns have come from European countries like France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. What made this repatriation rare was that it was an African country doing the returning. AFP via Getty Images A national symbol, the Zimbabwe Bird features on Zimbabwe’s flag In his speech on Tuesday, McKenzie described the birds as “unique” and “revered”. “Nothing like them has been discovered anywhere else in the world,” he said. The sculptures were taken from the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, a medieval stone city, from which Zimbabwe gets its name. In fact, Zimbabwe means “house of stone” – and today the country is globally renowned in art circles for its modern stone carvings. The Great Zimbabwe site was built between the 11th and 15th Centuries and the striking bird sculptures – of which eight are known – were planted on walls and monoliths. An air of intrigue surrounds the eagles – scholars cannot agree on who exactly sculpted them, though some scholars believe they were made by ancestors of the Shona people, who make up the majority of the country’s current population. “They are the most significant archaeological treasures ever discovered in the country,” Plan Shenjere-Nyabezi, an archaeology professor at the University of Zimbabwe, tells the BBC. “The Zimbabwe Birds stand as powerful and cherished symbols of our national heritage.” The sculptures vary in shape and sizes – they range from 25cm (9.8in) to 50cm in height, towering above one metre when measured with their columns. New video game sees Africans fantasise about taking back looted treasures Ghana, Nigeria and the quest for UK looted treasure The fallout from Nigeria’s spectacular $25m museum and the Benin Bronzes Some experts believe the statues depict the bateleur eagle, known as “chapungu” in Shona. Others believe the bird is a “hungwe”, the African fish eagle. The statues have great spiritual meaning for some in Zimbabwe, Edward Matenga, one of Zimbabwe’s foremost scholars of the sculptures, tells the BBC. He says the endangered