Overview
- The in situ pyre at the HOR-1 rock shelter dates to about 9,500 years ago and represents the oldest known adult funeral pyre and the earliest intentional cremation documented in Africa.
- Archaeologists recovered roughly 170 bone fragments indicating an adult woman just under five feet tall, with cut marks showing pre-cremation manipulation and no evidence of cannibalism.
- The pyre required at least 30 kilograms of fuel and sustained temperatures above 500°C, with evidence that participants actively tended and disturbed the fire over many hours.
- No cranial or dental remains were found, suggesting the head was removed before burning, while stone flakes and points inside the deposit may reflect tools used in preparation or funerary offerings.
- The pyre location shows repeated large fires centuries before and after the event, indicating a persistent ritual place at Mount Hora within a burial landscape used from about 16,000 to 8,000 years ago.