Early Cannibalism not for Rituals nor Starvation - Just More Food

According to a study published in the latest issue of Current Anthropology Homo antecessor who lived in Europe a million years ago ate members of competing clans just as another item on the menu. Remains found in a cave near Burgos, Spain reportedly showed that the processing of cannibalistic meals was no different than any other (i.e., not ritual oriented) and that lesser animal forms were available for food (i.e., cannibalism not from starvation). Homo antecessor was the last common ancestor of the lineage to Neanderthal and the African lineage that gave rise to modern man.

The humans-as-food determination negates other possibilities, such as cannibalism for ritual's sake, or cannibalism due to starvation. In this oldest known case of humans eating humans, other food was available to the diners, but human flesh was just part of their meat mix.


Homo antecessor facts:


Homo antecessor picture:

Tags: Jubinsky, Cannibalism, Humans, antecessor

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ɟǝןıx dǝʇɹɐɹ on August 28, 2010 at 4:04pm
Humans, angelic creatures. The Fore are Homo Sapiens and they still ate humans just for food and not for any ritual until recently. I apologize for giving you such "academical" sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fore_%28people%29

http://www.heretical.com/cannibal/nguinea1.html
Permalink Reply by Geraldo Cienmarcos on August 28, 2010 at 8:01pm
"... members of competing clans... " Ah! There's the rub. Nothing has changed. Categorize a group as different and it's okay to eat, blast, kill or bomb them. -- Gary
Permalink Reply by ɟǝןıx dǝʇɹɐɹ on August 28, 2010 at 10:33pm
Actually this bothered me when I read it. How do they know they ate members of competing clans? Every statement is important. That's the reason I gave the example with the Fore people. They just ate their relative because it was an extra source of protein, no competing clans.
Permalink Reply by Geraldo Cienmarcos on August 28, 2010 at 10:59pm
Well, now I have to ask.
Did they kill their relatives?
Or did they eat them after they died?

Gary
Permalink Reply by ɟǝןıx dǝʇɹɐɹ on August 29, 2010 at 10:40am
Who? The Fore people? They ate them after they died. They are like us. I don't know how bad are your relatives but you would not kill them, isn't it? Same with Fore. I guess that in their unwritten history they ate people they killed in war too, why not? Why to waste so much meat?

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