01 Aug 2017

Kgosi Sechele I Museum curator, Kawina Kawina says excavations taking place at Ntsweng in Molepolole will pave the way for the construction of a museum.

Speaking in an interview, Kawina said the excavations were done by Botswana Museum personnel to rescue any artifacts that could have been buried underground by the early inhabitants.

He said the construction of the museum would start in about six months depending on whether the research by the excavators would have finished, and that the completion date would be the first quarter of 2019.

 “We have so far awarded some tenders for fencing and the master plan, and we are still working on awarding tenders for other components as we await for the completion of the excavations,” he said.

Kawina said the museum would be built through the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) and the help of the National Environmental Fund (NEF).

For his part, Botswana Museum archaeologist, Ontlametse Ntebang said they were doing the excavations as a requirement by the Monuments and Relics Act, which dictate that a pre-development impact assessment study be done before any development.

He said a rescue of cultural and archeological materials must be done where the museum was going to be built.

“We have so far discovered pottery, bullets, beads, charcoal and bone and all this can tell the kind of life the early inhabitants of this place led,” he said.

He said the material gathered would be used for educational purposes and to beef-up the history of the area, adding that the material would be displayed at the museum.

“The museum will never be complete without the displays,” he noted.

Ntebang highlighted that it was important to do archaeological tests before any development so that archaeological materials were not disturbed as there was a way to get them. He said wherever there was any material that indicate to be of early inhabitants anywhere in Botswana, it must be reported to the museum.

He said it was an offence against the Monuments and Relics Act to dig archeological material without consulting the National Museum. ENDS