500-year-old skull with facial modification found in Gabon

GABON – Face modification has already been done human since hundreds of years ago. This is evident from the findings of skulls in Gabon, South Africa that changed their appearance by pulling out their front teeth.

Dozens of skulls were found in a narrow cave as deep as 25 meters. Inside the cave, a team of archaeologists found thousands of bones from 24 adults and four children.

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Richard Oslisly, an archaeologist from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, discovered the Iroungou cave in Gabon’s Ngounié province in 1992. Oslisly first investigated the cave in 2018 by exploring underground chambers.

“There are very few sites with remains human ancient for this region,” study lead author and CNRS researcher Sébastien Villotte told mengatakan Live Science via email.

The cave consists of four levels, and all contain bones dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. Although the bones were mixed up, scientists confirmed all the skeletons were complete.

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The skull that was found intrigued archaeologists. Because almost all intact maxillary teeth are missing the middle and lateral permanent incisors and the four teeth at the very front of the mouth.

In 2016, another team of archaeologists discovered skull who also lost their front teeth, in the Lapa do Santo Brasil cave. But in the case of Brazilian remains, which date back about 9,000 years, the difference is that the teeth were extracted after death in a ritual burial, Live Science previously reported.

“Face modification by tooth extraction is a well-documented habit all over the world, especially in Africa,” says Villotte.

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Removing so many front teeth will affect pronunciation and change the shape of the mouth and face. This practice occurred in a population from West Central Africa indicating a long history and possible continuation of body modification habits in the area.

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