Iho Eleru

Map of Nigeria with location (left).
Views of the Iho Eleru skull (right): side, front, top, bottom

Iho Eleru, formerly known as Iwo Eleeru, is an archaeological site and rock shelter that features Later Stone Age artifacts from during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition, which is located in the forest–savanna village of Isarun in Ondo State, Nigeria.[1] The site was initially discovered by Chief Officer J. Akeredolu, in 1961 during a large-scale survey of hilly landscapes around the town of Akure in Ondo State, Nigeria.[2][1] The name was formerly and commonly known as Iwo Eleru, but the correct name is now regarded as Ihò Eléérú, or Iho Eleru, meaning "Cave of Ashes."[1] The Iho Eleru skull is a notable archaeological discovery from the site which dates to approximately 13,000 years old.[3][4][5] It may be evidence of modern humans possessing possible archaic human admixture[6] or of a late-persisting early modern human.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Cerasoni, Jacopo Niccolò; et al. (17 March 2023). "Human interactions with tropical environments over the last 14,000 years at Iho Eleru, Nigeria". iScience. 26 (3): 106153. Bibcode:2023iSci...26j6153C. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106153. ISSN 2589-0042. OCLC 9806331324. PMC 9950523. PMID 36843842. S2CID 256747182.
  2. ^ Shaw, Thurstan, and S. G. H. Daniels. "Excavations at Iwo Eleru, Ondo State, Nigeria." West African Journal of Archaeology 14 (1984): 1-269.
  3. ^ Brothwell & Shaw 1971, p. 221-227.
  4. ^ Katerina Harvati, Chris Stringer, Rainer Grün, Maxime Aubert, Philip Allsworth-Jones and Caleb Adebayo Folorunso, 'The Later Stone Age Calvaria from Iho Eleru, Nigeria: Morphology and Chronology', PLoS One. 2011; 6(9): e24024.
  5. ^ a b Bergström, Anders; et al. (2021). "Origins of modern human ancestry" (PDF). Nature. 590 (7845): 232. Bibcode:2021Natur.590..229B. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5. PMID 33568824. S2CID 231883210.
  6. ^ Schlebusch, Carina M.; Jakobsson, Mattias (2018). "Tales of Human Migration, Admixture, and Selection in Africa". Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. 19: 407. doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-083117-021759. PMID 29727585. S2CID 19155657.