Ancient Elites Mutilated Their Faces Says Iroungou Cave Study

It is now known elite members of an ancient culture living around Africa’s deep and inaccessible Iroungou Cave in Gabon mutilated their faces by removing selected teeth, which changed the shape of their faces. But why?  

Around 28 people’s skeletons dating to the 14th-15th centuries AD were put to rest in Iroungou Cave, an unusual cave in Gabon, in west Central Africa. The discovery was first announced by a team of French and Gabonese researchers on Dec 18, 2018. At the time Richard Oslisly, who led the expedition financed by the National Agency of National Parks, said the discovery was “unique” in Africa, because human remains are almost “non-existent” in African soils.

The reason human remains are so rare in Africa is because the soils are very acidic, so everything of human and animal origin decomposes very quickly. This is why the discovery of the 28 skeletons at the  Iroungou Cave site is so important for archaeology. Now, the researchers’ new study demonstrates that these dead bodies showed evidence of “cultural tooth ablation,” which means they practiced body modification through tooth removal.

Archaeologists studying the unusual and amazing remains in Iroungou Cave in tropical Gabon, Africa. (C. Gerrin / Antiquity Publications Ltd)