For funeral purposes or to survive, Stone Age Men sometimes consumed the flesh of their dead. Traces of this practice have just been discovered in Europe.
Consume the flesh of one’s peers as part of funeral rites or to survive. In the Paleolithic, cannibalism could be practiced, by the ancestors of modern humans and the Neanderthals. This is what a study conducted in England concludes this week. Bones exhumed by scientists bore marks of human teeth. The treatment of the remains suggests consumption as part of funeral rites.
Skulls turned into a bowl
Skulls hollowed out to be turned into goblets, chewed bones: this is what researchers found in Gough’s cave, located in the United Kingdom (see box). Some remains were deposited at very early times 14,700 years ago. In addition to the traces of teeth, many clues agree to a practice of cannibalism, according to the study published in the Journal of Human Evolution. A practice already proven in several areas of central and western Europe during the Magdalenian period, during the Stone Age (Paleolithic).
“The end of the Magdalenian seems to correspond, according to prehistorians, to a tendency of violence, notes Georges Guille-Escuret, doctor in biology and anthropology contacted by Why actor. This is evidenced in particular in continental Europe by skulls arranged in “bowls”. It was a time when social relations between groups were able to change significantly. “
Georges Guille-Escuret, CNRS research director: ” It is believed that there is cannibalism when human bones have been treated the same as animal bones eaten. “
Manufactured human bones
Gough Cave in Somerset was discovered in the 1880s. Excavation ceased in 1992, but the search for human bones continued. Since then, archaeologists have revealed the presence of intensively worked human bones, mixed with the remains of large mammals and other artefacts (ivory, game wood, etc.).
“In 2011, we noticed a particular work of the skull, and we concluded that 3 skulls had been modified to serve as bowls, recalls the Dr Silvia Bello, author of the study contacted by Why actor. Thanks to this new discovery, we decided to study the parts below the skull with more attention. We identified several marks which we interpreted as belonging to human teeth. These marks represent unambiguous evidence of cannibalism. “
An unusual practice
In the case of the remains of Gough’s cave, researchers put forward the hypothesis of ritual cannibalism. The author of the study, Silvia bello, explains why such a track is privileged: “We suggest that it is ritual because the intensive butchering of the non-cranial parts is accompanied by a meticulous sculpture of the skull in bowl. On the skull, there were no traces of teeth, she specifies. The manufacture of skull-bowls, 15,000 years ago, has been observed at least in two other French sites (Isturiz and Le Placard). There are several similarities between these sites, which makes us think that in the Magdalenian, there was perhaps a regular, and cultural, practice of cannibalism.
This practice is recorded on 5 continents, but in any case it could not have been a mode of food.
Georges Guille-Escuret : ” There is then one inhabitant for 100 km2. It is much more worrying to find a brother-in-law than an enemy for the population to reproduce. “
When history turns against itself
Cannibalism was very rarely practiced for food purposes, which is still the case today. “There are cases of crisis cannibalism, underlines Georges Guille-Escuret. An Eskimo scholar has gathered accounts where, during a major famine crisis, the old man who is about to die asks his children to eat his body after his death, in order to have a chance to survive. ”
Georges Guille-Escuret : ” There are resurgences of cannibalism for historical reasons: in West Africa, on the Borneo side … “
Getting to know cannibalistic practices has been fascinating for a long time. So much so that “for a prehistorian, having traces of cannibalism on his site is practically having the assurance of obtaining funding for the rest of his research”, jokes Georges Guille-Escuret. Beyond this fascination, prehistorians use this precious information to better describe the culture of our origins.
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