Overview
- Researchers excavated the Hora 1 rock shelter at Mount Hora, a long‑used landmark with burials between roughly 16,000 and 8,000 years ago.
- The pyre held about 170 fragments from an adult woman under five feet tall, cremated before decomposition, with cutmarks and a missing skull indicating deliberate manipulation.
- Building and tending the structure required at least 30 kilograms of fuel and high, sustained heat exceeding 500°C, with evidence the body was moved during burning.
- Stone flakes and points inside the ash may reflect funerary deposition or tools used in processing, but the purpose remains unresolved.
- Large fires occurred at the spot centuries before and were rekindled for centuries after, signaling communal memory of the pyre’s location.