Ancient skulls demonstrate that men and women in West Central Africa 500 years ago radically altered their appearance by removing their front teeth. The centuries-old altered skulls were discovered deep below in a cave that could only be accessed by rope via a hole in the cavern’s roof.
According to a recent study, thousands of bones from at least 24 individuals (men and women aged 15 and above) and four children have buried thereon at least two occasions after a terrible vertical plummet of 82 feet (25 meters). Hundreds of metal objects, including jewelry, swords, and hoes fashioned of local iron and foreign copper, lay nearby, indicating the richness and position of the individuals buried there.
The Iroungou cave in Gabon’s Ngounié province was found in 1992 by Richard Oslisly, an archaeologist with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. According to the report, Oslisly initially studied the cave in 2018, and reaching the underground region was so difficult that archaeologists have only been able to explore its depths on four missions since then.
In an email to Live Science, primary study author and CNRS researcher Sébastien Villotte said, “There are extremely few sites containing archeological human remains for this region.” “It was incredible that toddlers, teens, adult males, and ladies were buried here with so many items – over 500!.”
The cave interior and burial sites were photographed and laser-scanned so that the cave and its contents could be reconstructed in 3D. They took samples from leg bones for radiocarbon dating, which involves analyzing ratios of radioactive carbon isotopes to determine an object’s age, but they left all of the human remains where they were discovered.
The cave has four floors, each of which contained bones from the 14th and 15th centuries. Even though the bones were jumbled together, scientists noticed that all of the skeletons were whole, “suggesting that cadavers, rather than dried bones, were either thrown from above or lowered into the cave,” according to the study’s authors.
There were several burial artifacts beside the bones, including bracelets and rings, axes and knives, more than 100 seashells, and dozens of pierced carnivore teeth.
The researchers were particularly interested in the skulls because all of the entire upper jaws were missing certain teeth: the central and lateral permanent incisors, which are four teeth at the front of the mouth. After the extractions, all of the empty tooth sockets showed indications of healing, showing that the teeth were extracted while the patients were still alive and the holes had enough time to heal before they died, a process known as alveolar resorption.
Another team of researchers discovered similarly altered skulls at Brazil’s Lapa do Santo cave in 2016, along with missing front teeth. The teeth were extracted after death in burial ceremonies in the case of the Brazilian bones, which date to around 9,000 years ago.
“Especially in Africa,” Villette wrote in an email, “dental alteration is a well-documented habit.” “The folks who practiced it pushed for tooth removal for a variety of reasons,” he noted. Facial alteration – the extraction of teeth to alter the contour or look of the face — is one of these causes. Given that the gums had healed, Villotte believes the Iroungou skulls were not altered as part of a burial ceremony. Because the extractions in the Gabon cave were symmetrical and included the same teeth in all of the skeletons’ jaws, the scientists concluded that they were probably done “in the context of a cultural practice” for these people.
According to the researchers, the excision of so many front teeth would have impaired pronunciation and changed the contour of the mouth and face in a way that was “very obvious,” showing that all of these people belonged to the same group.
Tooth changes such as extraction, chipping, and filing into points have long been used in Africa, according to the research, albeit the removal of the top four incisors is exceptional. The majority of people that engage in this practice are from West Central Africa, “suggesting a lengthy history and likely continuation of body-modification rituals in the region,” according to the researchers.
“Because this site is uncommon, and pre-colonial Gabone burial traditions are almost unknown,” Villette added, “one might view this discovery as the first piece of the puzzle.” “And it appears to be a very challenging one.”
