At the foot of a massive granite boulder protruding out of the ground and forming a shade under its overhanging side, a man stopped to rest. We may never know what drew him to these heights. He was probably a nomadic trader, moving from place to place across the southwestern enclaves to sell his goods. Perhaps he was a wanderer, an outcast from his clan.
Scorched by the mid-day sun, he gazed ahead over the sweeping plains below. The horizon stood ethereal, vague and daunting. Behind him rose the titanic Amoye Inselbergs of Ikere.
Fired earthen pots of varying sizes laid around and smoke rose gently from hot ash heaped up at a corner, yet no one was in sight.
Going forward became disheartening as there was no proximate destination in sight, and goin backward was a taboo.
This place felt weird. A spooky ambience accompanied the silence that held the air. Something felt wrong but he couldn’t place it. He had called out in the bush signals again and again, and no one had answered. Suddenly, he heared some muffled sounds in a nearby bush. He stood up to take a closer look. In an instant, two heavily-built men sprung out of the bush and siezed him. His pleas fell on deaf ears. His struggle to free himself from their grips had no effect. Within minutes the viscinity became populated with jubilant people.
The gods had been angry with the Iloro people who resided at the foot of a gloomy cave. They were skilled in all pottery works and the walls of the sacred cave were decorated in bright patches of ash painting. They were also skilled hunters and herdsmen. Strange occurences had pavaded the enclave. The gods of the cave needed to be appeased and a human sacrifice was the price for redemption.
A stranger had entered the wrong place at a wrong time- the foot of the sacred hole at the time of sacrificial cleansing. He became the food of the gods.
He was buried alive, at the foot of the cave in a standing position holding a pot with sixteen inlets.
Months later, the enclave was invaded by the neighbouring Ado people. The assault was so ferocious that the people of Iloro were forced to flee into the surrounding forest for safety. After the intruders had left, the people of Iloro were distraught to discover that their pottery works had been reduced to ashes. In deep despondence they left migrated from the location to resettle somewhere else and they named the cave “Iho eleeru”, which means “Hole of Ashes” or “Cave of Ashes”.
In 1922, Chief Obele, an hunter, during one of his hunting expeditions chanced upon the elusive cave and broken pottery works scattered all over its viscinity. He returned back to the people of Isarun (descendants of the Iloro people) and broke the news of his discovery to the traditional ruler.
Although Obele is still alive, he cannot speak again as a result of old age and its related ailments. Obele’s finding is termed rediscovery because evidences that the rock had earlier on accommodated human habitation abound.
The cave has also played a significant role in the archeological history of West Africa. In 1968, Professor Thurstan Shaw of the then University of Ile-Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), conducted an intensive and extensive research and exploration on the site, and excavated the remains of the skeleton which was buried in a standing position, holding a pot with sixteen inlets. The findings of Professor Shaw was published in his book, HISTORY OF WEST AFRICAN ARCHEOLOGY, Vol 1.Iho Eleeru was officially recognised as a tourist attraction in 1992. Plans are also being made to provide the location with good facilities to cater for the needs of tourists at the cave; also the State’s tourism board has planned to employ the services of traditionalists who are well versed in Ifa mythology to interprete the divinations engraved on one of the rocks earlier mentioned.
Though locked away in the lush jungles of Ondo State, a trip to the Cave of Ashes still remains one to look forward to.

 

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