Page 91 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

development, the management of the post-inde- best practices even in the absence of the law led
pendence economy opened the space for large ex- to the conclusion that contract archaeology was
tractive and earth moving industries, mainly in ‘carried out primarily as the prerogative of the
the mining sector. These developments were part developer rather than at the behest of the au-
5
of a new dispensation that required the reversal thorities’. This paper argues, therefore, that con-
of an inherited, skewed distribution of develop- tract archaeology in Namibia emerged as an un-
ment. Increased economic activities created the controlled practice. It remained uncontrolled
need for protecting and preserving the environ- because there were no policies or guidelines in
ment and its associated heritage resources and place that were used to manage contract archae-
6
thereby stimulated the rise of contract archaeol- ology. It emerged as a self-regulating practice.
ogy in Namibia. The development discourse cre- Another element in Namibia that fostered
ated a demand for archaeological services. The the emergence of contract archaeology was that
field of contract archaeology was called upon as of heritage resources management. Namibian 91
part of such assessments because there were pol- heritage was managed through the application
icies and legislation that supported and direct- of the South African National Monuments Act
ed the practice. Three main areas contained in (Act 28 of 1969). This was repealed and replaced
the Environmental Assessment Policy of 1995 in by the National Heritage Act (2004) fourteen
which contract archaeology was conducted were years after independence. Part VI of the new act
power generation, major dams, and mining. outlined the special provisions for the protection
Before the national policies and legislation and management of certain heritage resources.
were developed and enacted, contract archaeolo- Section 54 of this act referred to environmental
gy emerged as a practice that followed the adop- impact assessments that should be done as part
4
tion of international best practice. Companies of the demands of the Environmental Assess-
such as Namibia De Beers partnership (Nam- ment Policy of 1995 and later the Environmen-
deb), which mined diamonds, implemented pre- tal Management Act of 2007. According to the History and Practice of Contract Archaeology in Namibia
development environmental impact assessments National Heritage Act (2004), heritage impact
that included archaeological surveys. This was in assessments were to be done as part of the envi-
line with the company’s environmental policy ronmental impact assessments. The heritage leg-
(Namibia De Beers Partnership 2019). Namdeb islation did not explicitly refer to either archaeo-
contracted their consultant archaeologist to con- logical impact assessment or to heritage impact
duct the archaeological surveys in Oranjemund assessments. Instead, it unequivocally named en-
(Chirikure and Sinamayi 2015, 115). vironmental impact assessments. The legal basis
Large-scale projects such as the Kudu Gas of contract archaeology in Namibia was a mat-
Power Station required environmental impact ter of reference to environmental legislation and
assessments for their powerlines and therefore policies as contained in the National Heritage
contract archaeology was called upon. For the Act.
Kudu Gas Power Station, Nampower, the para- It is noteworthy, however, that the sec-
statal responsible for electricity generation in the tion that referred to environmental impact as-
country, required an environmental impact as- sessment in the National Heritage Act was im-
sessment (Enviro Dynamics 2005). The fact that plemented in circumstances where there were
these companies implemented international no guidelines or policies that operationalised
4 Kinahan (2013, 2) pointed out that due to the fact that contract archaeology was ‘driven by new global practices and guidelines’,
he ‘was able to work as an independent contractor fully 10 years in advance of the present heritage legislation.’
5 John Kinahan, email to Goodman Gwasira (2019, 20 November).
6 The National Heritage Act (2004) only provided a legal basis for contract archaeology at a later stage; however, guidelines have
since been developed and were approved by the National Heritage Council of Namibia in 2021.