Location | Turkana County, Kenya |
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History of Kenya |
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Kenya portal |
The Lothagam North Pillar Site, registered as GeJi9, is an archaeological site at Lothagam on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic and the Holocene. It is a communal cemetery, built between 3000 BCE and 2300 BCE by the region's earliest herders as rainfall in the area decreased and Lake Turkana receded.[1][2][3] It is thought to be eastern Africa's largest and earliest monumental cemetery.[4]
The burial site study and excavation were led by Elisabeth Hildebrand from 2009 to 2014.[1] The burial site is flanked by megaliths, stone circles, and cairns, and is believed to hold the remains of hundreds of individuals.[3] Many of the people buried at Lothagam North were adorned with stone beads, ivory, animal teeth, rings, or other ornaments.[2]