AFRICA
BY ROBERT SHANAFELT
Africa provides evidence of some of the world’s oldest burials
and mortuary rituals. At a site containing some of the old-
est human remains, near Herto, Ethiopia, the skull of a child
from 160,000 years ago was found to be so polished that it
must have been repeatedly handled, probably in a ritual-like
way. At the other end of the continent, at Border Cave, be-
tween South Africa and Swaziland, excavations uncovered
what may be one of the earliest intentional burials that also
dates back tens of thousands of years. Th ere the remains of
an infant were found together with a shell ornament; some
of the child’s bones had been stained with the red ocher. Ar-
chaeological evidence suggests that individuals continued to
be buried in caves and rock shelters throughout South Afri-
can prehistory.
Ocher (a powdery form of iron-rich earth or clay that can
be used as a pigment) and other materials such as shells have
served as mortuary goods and for other ceremonial purposes
for thousands of years in much of Africa, continuing up into
contemporary times. Red ocher is of great ritual signifi cance
both in life and in death. Typically mixed with fats and then
smeared on the face or body—whether of a living person or a
corpse—it results in a glossy, bright red sheen. Because of the
association of the color red with blood, the pigment is oft en
linked with life and fertility.
In all of Africa, Egypt is most famous for its ancient
pyramids and the tombs where mummies are found, but it is
not the only place on the continent where there are elaborate
pyramids and burial monuments. Th e rulers of Egypt’s 25th
Dynasty were Nubians who hailed from what is Sudan today,
and they built their pyramid gravesites in their homeland.
Th e Nubians continued these practices even aft er losing con-
trol of the Egyptian part of their empire. For example, at the
city of Meroë, capital of the kingdom of Kush (ca. 800–ca. 350
b.c.e.), members of the ruling families were buried beneath
stone or brick pyramids in tombs hewn from solid rock. At
an even earlier period the royal tombs of Kerma, topped withPyramid of a king, thought to be Adikhalamani Tabirqa, in Meroë, Sudan. (Courtesy of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago)
312 death and burial practices: Africa