Workers building dam uncover 15th-century burials in Angola before flooding submerged them

Tumuli illustration and photographs. Credit: D’Olivera et al. A hydroelectric dam under construction in Angola has led archaeologists to one of the country's most important historical discoveries. Before the area disappears beneath the dam's reservoir, researchers uncovered Angola's oldest radiocarbon-dated burials. These burials are the earliest known stone structures in central Angola and the country's only known ancient urn cremation. The discoveries offer a rare glimpse into how people in the region lived and buried their dead more than 600 years ago. The findings were published in the Journal of Field Archaeology.According to Science X, the discoveries were made at the archaeological site of Caculo Cabaca in central Angola. The archaeological team had limited time to study the site before it was lost. "We gave priority to the places that we knew would soon disappear," said Sofia Mateus Simplicio D'Oliveira, a doctoral candidate at the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris and one of the study's authors.The discoveries are significant because they challenge long-held ideas about the history of stone building in Angola. Earlier European accounts mostly described people l...