More Evidence Points to Neolithic Cannibalism

Some of the 7,000-year-old skeletal remains unearthed at Herxheim.

Archaeologists say evidence points to Neolithic cannibalism in a settlement in southern Germany some 7,000 years ago. Over a period of decades, skeletal remains indicate hundreds of people were butchered and eaten before parts of their bodies were thrown into oval pits.

Cannibalism at what is now the village of Herxheim may have occurred during ceremonies in which people from near and far brought slaves, war prisoners or other dependents for ritual sacrifice, according to Science News.

Until now, the only convincing evidence of Neolithic cannibalism came from 6,000-year-old bones in a French cave. A 1986 report concluded that the remains of various animals and at least six people were butchered and discarded there.

Herxheim offers rare evidence of cannibalism during Europe’s early Neolithic period, when farming first spread, the researchers report in the December Antiquity. Artifacts found at Herxheim come from the Linear Pottery Culture, which flourished in western and central Europe from about 7,500 to 7,000 years ago.

Click here for the Science News article.

Did Humans Feast on Neanderthals?

Computer-assisted paleoanthropological reconstruction of a Neanderthal child based on skull fragments unearthed in Gibraltar.

Scientists remain uncertain about the type of interaction that may have occurred during the Palaeolithic era between Neanderthals and humans. There has been speculation that the two species interbred in Europe between 33,000 and 24,000 years ago. Now, new evidence points to humans possibly having eaten Neanderthals and used their bones for ornaments.

According to Cosmos Online:

Re-examined artifacts from the Les Rois cave, a settlement of early modern humans in southwest France, include a jawbone with flint-knife cut marks on it and a pendant made from a child's tooth cut out of another jawbone, according to a report in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences.

“Secondary burial practices and cannibalism are the two explanations traditionally proposed to account for modifications on prehistoric human bones,” the researchers wrote.

Although researchers can’t be certain the 30,000-year-old jawbone belonged to a Neanderthal, several of its features are characteristic of that species, said co-author Marian Vanhaeren, an archaeologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Nanterre.

The idea will provoke considerable opposition from scientists who believe Neanderthals disappeared for reasons that did not involve violence. Neanderthals were a sturdy species who evolved in Europe 300,000 years ago, made complex stone tools and survived several ice ages before they disappeared 30,000 years ago - just as modern human beings arrived in Europe from Africa.

And according to Britain's Guardian:

The idea will provoke considerable opposition from scientists who believe Neanderthals disappeared for reasons that did not involve violence. Neanderthals were a sturdy species who evolved in Europe 300,000 years ago, made complex stone tools and survived several ice ages before they disappeared 30,000 years ago - just as modern human beings arrived in Europe from Africa.

Some researchers believe Neanderthals may have failed to compete effectively with Homo sapiens for resources, or were more susceptible to the impact of climate change. But others believe our interactions were violent and terminal for the Neanderthals. According to Rozzi, the discovery at Les Rois in south-west France provides compelling support for that argument.

Click here for the Cosmos Online article.

Click here for the Guardian article.

Click here for an earlier article about interbreeding.

New Findings Point to Ancient Druid Savagry

Ancient Romans considered Britain’s Celts ~ and their priests, whom he named Druids ~ to be a particularly savage people, and new findings seem to be bearing out that observation. Indications now point to cannibalism and ritual human sacrifice on a potentially massive scale.

After a first century BC visit to Britain, the Romans came back with horrific stories about the Celts, who had spread throughout much of Europe over a roughly 2,000-year period. Julius Caesar ~ leading the first Roman landing in 55 BC. ~ said the native Celts "believe that the gods delight in the slaughter of prisoners and criminals, and when the supply of captives runs short, they sacrifice even the innocent."

First-century historian Pliny the Elder went further, suggesting the Celts practiced ritual cannibalism, eating their enemies' flesh as a source of spiritual and physical strength.

National Geographic reports that recent gruesome finds may confirm the Romans' accounts. 

Incriminating evidence includes the 2,000-year-old, bog-mummified body of Lindow Man, discovered in England in the 1980s. At least one thing appears nearly certain about the man: He was the victim of a carefully staged sacrifice.

Other grisly clues come from a cave in Alveston, England. Skeletons belonging to as many as 150 people and dating back to about the time of the Roman conquest were discovered in 2000.

Depiction above is of Roman slaughter of Druids, which may have led to Celtic savagry.

Click here for the complete National Geographic article. The short video below is a preview to a National Geographic television special on the Druid findings.

Archaeologists Ponder Stone-Age Cannibalism

One of the 7,000-year-old skeletons unearthed at the Herxheim village.

Archaeologists are speculating on what could have led to an extensive occurrence of Stone Age cannibalism among villagers near Herxheim, Germany.

"It is impossible to establish direct proof of cannibalism,” says Bruno Boulestin, an anthropologist at Bordeaux University. “But here we have systematic, repetitive gestures, which suggest that the bodies were eaten."

According to a report in The Guardian, thousands of human bones have been unearthed at Herxheim, near Speyer. About 7,000 years ago farmers ~ who grew wheat and barley and raised livestock ~ built a village of four to 12 houses, the post holes of which have survived.

During the first series of excavations at the end of the 1990s, numerous injuries visible on the skeletons were taken as evidence that the victims had been massacred. But in 2008 Boulestin examined the fragments recovered from one of the trenches, pointing out that nearly 2,000 samples belonged to fewer than 10 individuals.



The marks of breaking, cutting, scraping and crushing indicate that the bodies were dismembered, the tendons and ligaments severed, the flesh torn off and the bones smashed. The vertebra were cut up to remove the ribs, just as butchers do today with loin chops.

What can this bloodbath mean? The potsherds found among the human remains suggest it must have occurred over a period of no longer than 50 years. There is nothing to imply the victims were killed for food. Only under extreme conditions would 100 or so farmers have been able to overcome about 10 times their number. The archaeologists have therefore concluded that this was some form of ritual killing.

Click here for the complete article in The Guardian.