A 14th-century underground burial site was discovered deep in the tropical forest of Gabon. According to scientists, it may help shed some light on a certain period in Africa's history that isn't as known.
In 2018, a French geo-archeologist discovered hundreds of medieval artifacts. The artifacts were scattered with human remains at the bottom of a cave, located in the southeast of the country.
Skeletal remains
Richard Oslisly, the leader of the expedition that was financed by the National Agency of National Parks, said that the discovery in Africa is considered unique because ancient human remains are almost nonexistent.
Olam International, Singapore's palm oil company, also funded the mission. The company is well-established in Gabon. Around 82 feet of rope was needed for explorers to reach the floor of the cave, and even though there are no diamonds or golden platters, the cave is still considered a treasure trove for scientists.
The cave was named Iroungou, and it has almost 30 skeletons on three levels. There were more than 500 metallic artifacts that were made of iron. There were also axes, knives, spear tips, collars, and bracelets. Around 39 pierced teeth were found by researchers, the teeth belonged to panthers and hyenas.
Oslisly, the 69-year-old researcher, began to talk about the discovery of the cave a year after they found it. It immediately caused excitement and hope in the science and archaeology fields.
According to Geoffroy de Saulieu, an archaeologist that works for the Research Institute for Development in France said that sub-Saharan Africa soils were acidic, so everything of animal and human origin decomposes fast. This fact makes the discovery even more exceptional.
The skeletons in the cave are said to have been there since the 14th century. In this part of the world, it is unusual to recover these kinds of remains because archaeological research is not funded enough. Although the remains in the cave were discovered last year, there were texts writing about Gabon.
Studying the origins
European adventurers who landed on the Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15 century recorded it. But it was not until the 19th century that European explorers went far inland on territory and almost covered the forest completely.
According to Louis Perrois, a French anthropologist, the oral record of indigenous families and clans does not let them go back further than one or two centuries. The researchers asked the elders in the villages about the Iroungou cave, but they had no idea who was buried there.
Scientists extracted the molar teeth from skulls and sent them to France for DNA testing. Scientists can also rely on DNA base compiled with saliva data from people across Africa. Oslisly wishes to cross-check the data and to find the descendants of the skeletons that they found with the DNA tools that are used by linguists.
This July, a team of anthropologists and specialists in bone pathology are due to go down into the cave. Apart from a collective burial site that was discovered at Benin City in Nigeria back in the 1960s, the Iroungou cave is the only one with skeletal remains to be found in Africa.
The bones discovered in Benin City also dates back to the 14th century. According to historians, it was the time when numerous African civilizations fell. Some researchers believe that Africa was struck by the Great Plague at that time, which could explain the bones they found.
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