Mortuary behaviour and cultural practices in pre-colonial West Central Africa: new data from the Iroungou burial cave, Gabon

Sébastien Villotte (1) , Sacha Kacki (1, 2) , Aurélien Mounier (3, 4) , Pascal Mora (5) , Loïc Espinasse (5) , Jules Zamke Dempano (6) , Christian Gerin (6) , Quentin Meunier (7) , Richard Oslisly (8, 9)

1 PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie
2 Durham University
3 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
4 Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
5 Archeovision CNRS
6 3ID Gabon
7 Olam International Ltd.
8 ANPN - Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux du Gabon
9 PALOC - Patrimoines locaux, Environnement et Globalisation

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.

Mots clés: Africa; Gabon; Iron Age; Burial practices; Collective burial; Dental modification

Domaines: Anthropologie biologique; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Sébastien Villotte, Sacha Kacki, Aurélien Mounier, Pascal Mora, Loïc Espinasse, et al.. Mortuary behaviour and cultural practices in pre-colonial West Central Africa: new data from the Iroungou burial cave, Gabon. Antiquity, 2021, 95 (382), z32s06pe23. ⟨10.15184/aqy.2021.80⟩. ⟨hal-03359504⟩