Njoro River Cave is an archaeological site on the Mau Escarpment,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, that was first excavated in 1938 by

Mary Leakey Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also disc ...

and her husband Louis Leakey. Excavations revealed a mass cremation site created by

Elmenteitan The Elmenteitan culture was a prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition with a distinct pattern of land use, hunting and pastoralism that appeared and developed on the western plains of Kenya, East Africa during the Pastoral Neolithic ...

pastoralists during the

Pastoral Neolithic The Pastoral Neolithic (5000 BP - 1200 BP) refers to a period in Africa's prehistory, specifically Tanzania and Kenya, marking the beginning of food production, livestock domestication, and pottery use in the region following the Later Stone Age. ...

roughly 3350-3050 BP. Excavations also uncovered pottery, beads, stone bowls, basket work, pestles and flakes. The Leakeys' excavation was one of the earliest to uncover ancient beads and tools in the area and a later investigation in 1950 was the first to use radiocarbon dating in East Africa.

Dating

The Njoro River Cave was the place of first use of radiocarbon dating in East Africa. Though the Leakeys only made a single observation in 1950, later tests were conducted in the 1980s. Results from four total radiocarbon dates cluster at 3350-3050 BP.

Cremation and burial

Seventy-eight individuals were originally recovered. While there is nothing that would suggest the items were only left for certain genders, the number of male remains found doubled the amount of female remains. Each body was buried with some type of potsherd, basket, bead, stone bowl, pestle, gourd or other various items. It appears the bodies underwent a series of steps to complete the ritual. First the bodies were wrapped in skins. They were then bound and covered with soil before the burning took place. Then a hole was dug into the ground and the body was placed into the hole. They were covered with soil and red ochre. Then a fire was lit on top, creating an oven atmosphere and leaving the remains in various states.

Beads

The site contained thousands of beads made of semi-precious stones including agate, quartz,

chalcedony Chalcedony ( , or ) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monocli ...

and

microcline Microcline (KAlSi3O8) is an important igneous rock-forming tectosilicate mineral. It is a potassium-rich alkali feldspar. Microcline typically contains minor amounts of sodium. It is common in granite and pegmatites. Microcline forms during slo ...

. Before this excavation, beads such as these were thought to have been imported. Despite the fact many of the beads were burned for ceremonial purposes and lost their color, many of the excavated pieces kept their shape.

Pottery and baskets

Although many pottery pieces were found, they were only able to rebuild two pots. 78 stone vessels were recovered. There were several different types of bowls found, including platters and shallow basins, pestle-rubbing, deep bowls, round-and flat-based, convex-sided bowls with sharp rims, oblong and oval bowls. These patterns were more ornate than others in the region.

References

{{Navbox prehistoric caves Archaeological sites in Kenya History of Kenya Caves of Kenya Archaeological sites of Eastern Africa