Abstract
This study presents preliminary results of recent explorations at Iroungou (Gabon), a pre-colonial burial cave containing scattered skeletal remains of at least 28 men, women and children. The individuals, whose crania show cultural tooth ablation, were buried with abundant metallic objects, a combination with no known equivalent in West Central Africa.
Highlights
Knowledge of the ancient inhabitants of West Central Africa and their burial practices is very limited due to the lack of written sources and the scarcity of archaeological human remains in this part of the world
The discovery and analysis of the Iroungou Cave, Ngounié Province, Gabon (Figure 1), which contains thousands of scattered human remains associated with abundant artefacts, represents a wealth of exceptional and novel information
All human remains were left in situ, while artefacts visible on the floor were collected after 3D photogrammetric and laser scanning recorded their locations
Summary
Mortuary behaviour and cultural practices in pre-colonial West Central Africa: new data from the Iroungou burial cave, Gabon. Sébastien Villotte1,* , Sacha Kacki1,2 , Aurélien Mounier3,4 , Pascal Mora, Loic Espinasse, Jules Zamke Dempano, Christian Gerin, Quentin Meunier7 & Richard Oslisly. This study presents preliminary results of recent explorations at Iroungou (Gabon), a pre-colonial burial cave containing scattered skeletal remains of at least 28 men, women and children. The individuals, whose crania show cultural tooth ablation, were buried with abundant metallic objects, a combination with no known equivalent in West Central Africa
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