Formal Requests, Community-Based Activism, and Alternative Approaches: Rosetta Stone

Between 2019 - 2026, Open Restitution Africa (ORA) set out to map and document the processes that underpin the restitution of African heritage material from the perspective of Africans actively engaged in restitution work. Data gathered from 2023 - 2025 yielded a first-of-its-kind qualitative dataset comprising 25 in-depth restitution case studies from 13 African countries. Collated through a bespoke research methodology that prioritised oral history and the lived experiences of African communities, ORA worked with case study researchers from various countries to document how restitution happens and who or what is involved in moving restitution forward at a grassroots level. The result is a data set that encompasses 200 years of African restitution efforts structured into a series of ‘events’ - consolidated moments, occurrences, and/or activities related to the restitution of a belonging or human ancestor within each case study. It is designed to offer a comparative and synthesized analysis of the processes that underpin the restitution of African material cultural heritage. It also serves as evidence-based that can influence future decision-making around restitution structures, policies, and governance frameworks. The case studies are drawn from Botswana, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This dataset focuses on the efforts that have been put into Reclaiming Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele dating back to 196 BCE. This iconic Egyptian belonging, which enabled the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and has been housed in the United Kingdom since the 19th Century, has been central in Egypt's campaigns to repatriate its looted heritage. Demands to have this pivotal symbol of national heritage and identity returned to Egypt stretch back as far as 1922 when Britain issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, ending its formal protectorate over Egypt. This case study traces the various strategies that have been used by the Egyptian State and civil society since then to reclaim their material heritage, in the face of the British Museum's refusal to engage with the possibilities of repatriation.