Early man 'butchered and ate the brains of children as part of everyday diet'
By Niall Firth at Daily Mail (Online):
Early cavemen in Europe ate human meat as part of their everyday diet, new research suggests.
A new study of fossil bones in Spain shows that cannibalism was a normal part of daily life around 800,000 years ago among Europe’s first humans.
Bones from the cave, called Gran Dolina, show signs of cuts and other marks which will have been made by early stone tools.
Among the bones of bison, deer, wild sheep and other animals, scientists discovered the butchered remains of at least 11 human children and adolescents.
The bones also displayed signs of having been smashed to get the nutritious marrow inside and there was evidence that the victims’ brains may also have been eaten.
Striek marks on the bone at the base of the skull also indicated that the humans had been decapitated according to the study’s co-author José Maria Bermúdez de Castro.
Bermudez de Castro, of the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain, told National Geographic: ‘Probably then they cut the skull for extracting the brain. The brain is good for food.’
Scientists believe that early man ate fellow humans both to fulfill his nutritional needs and to kill off neighbouring enemy tribes.
Bones of humans that had been eaten spanned a period of around hundred thousand years, indicating that the practice was not just confined to times when food was scarce.
Because human and animal remains were tossed away together, the researchers speculate that cannibalism had no special ritual role linked to religious beliefs.
Bermudez de Castro said that the area surrounding the caves would have been a rich source of food so there would have been little need to turn to cannibalism as a last resort.
Instead the practice was probably more widely used as a way of dealing with competition from neighbouring tribes.
Children will have been targeted as they would have been less capable of defending themselves, the study suggests.
13 Comments
dystopianfuturetoday*cooking
quantumushroomBrain is the the best brain food? Makes sense.
ravermanI'm curious what tipping point in cultural development made this taboo?
I'm gonna guess the invention of agriculture and settled community / cities. Kinda hard to eat your neighbors children when you can't move away from them.
PaybackWell, at least we know why zombies crave brains. It's genetic memory.
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)
It's a cultural taboo, but I could see it coming back into fashion if there was a worldwide drought or food blight. I remember reading this SF book where a caste of human cattle developed over time- people treated them like livestock even though they were genetically the same as humans.
>> ^raverman:
I'm curious what tipping point in cultural development made this taboo?
I'm gonna guess the invention of agriculture and settled community / cities. Kinda hard to eat your neighbors children when you can't move away from them.
lucky760^Totally. See The Road.
rougyTo some extent, this persists today.
The old control the young.
The strong (wealthy) control the weak (poor).
As the complexity of our economic systems have evolved, so have our epicurean tastes.
Today, we live in a global state of economic cannibalism.
Gabe_b says...>> ^raverman:
I'm curious what tipping point in cultural development made this taboo?
I'm gonna guess the invention of agriculture and settled community / cities. Kinda hard to eat your neighbors children when you can't move away from them.
The adoption of herding/ animal husbandry I'd guess. Pre-European Maori and moder Papua New Guineans both ate/eat people. And NZ and PNG are both areas where there a few or no large land animals. Once you've got your chickens and goats running around it becomes safer to get your protein from those sources rather than risk war with the next tribe over.
As for eating brains, doesn't that lead to prion caused neurodegeneration? Like CJD or Kuru? Doesn't seem like it would be a sustainable act in a society over a long period of time.
gwiz665You guys don't do this?
rougyHey, as long as I get a side of fries, who am I to complain?
direpickle>> ^Gabe_b:
>> ^raverman:
I'm curious what tipping point in cultural development made this taboo?
I'm gonna guess the invention of agriculture and settled community / cities. Kinda hard to eat your neighbors children when you can't move away from them.
The adoption of herding/ animal husbandry I'd guess. Pre-European Maori and moder Papua New Guineans both ate/eat people. And NZ and PNG are both areas where there a few or no large land animals. Once you've got your chickens and goats running around it becomes safer to get your protein from those sources rather than risk war with the next tribe over.
As for eating brains, doesn't that lead to prion caused neurodegeneration? Like CJD or Kuru? Doesn't seem like it would be a sustainable act in a society over a long period of time.
Yeah, eating brains is double-plus bad. Good way to make your own tasty brainmeats melt out of your ears.
SagemindThanks, I'm definitely looking for this one!
>> ^lucky760:
^Totally. See The Road.
bamdrewnaked monkey-chick eating a child's brains from the skull? gentlemen, good luck fapping.
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