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.

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