Bones suggest Neanderthals were cannibals
The Washington Post and Postmedia Network
First posted: Friday, July 08, 2016 08:43 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, July 08, 2016 08:48 PM EDT
Neanderthal remains of five adults and a child found in a Belgian cave show indentations where the bones were hammered open to expose the marrow within, and cut marks left by knives used to tear the flesh away -- signs of cannibalism.
They were scattered throughout the cave, and jumbled with the remains of horses and reindeer that had been similarly cut and bruised.
The bones are believed to be up to 45,500 years old, and offer "unambiguous evidence" of Neanderthal cannibalism, scientists said this week in the journal Scientific Reports.
They're not the first such find - other bones suggesting that the prehistoric hominins ate their own kind have been uncovered in France, Portugal and Spain.
The researchers aren't sure why the bodies were butchered - was it part of a ceremony? An act of desperation? Sheer bloodlust?
But cannibalism might make these Neanderthals more like humans, not less. Fossils found at the Klasies River Caves in South Africa suggest that Homo sapiens ate their own kind as early as 120,000 years ago.
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal man and woman from the Neanderthal Museum. CREDIT: UNiesert/Wikipedia
Bones suggest Neanderthals were cannibals | World | News | Toronto Sun
The Washington Post and Postmedia Network
First posted: Friday, July 08, 2016 08:43 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, July 08, 2016 08:48 PM EDT
Neanderthal remains of five adults and a child found in a Belgian cave show indentations where the bones were hammered open to expose the marrow within, and cut marks left by knives used to tear the flesh away -- signs of cannibalism.
They were scattered throughout the cave, and jumbled with the remains of horses and reindeer that had been similarly cut and bruised.
The bones are believed to be up to 45,500 years old, and offer "unambiguous evidence" of Neanderthal cannibalism, scientists said this week in the journal Scientific Reports.
They're not the first such find - other bones suggesting that the prehistoric hominins ate their own kind have been uncovered in France, Portugal and Spain.
The researchers aren't sure why the bodies were butchered - was it part of a ceremony? An act of desperation? Sheer bloodlust?
But cannibalism might make these Neanderthals more like humans, not less. Fossils found at the Klasies River Caves in South Africa suggest that Homo sapiens ate their own kind as early as 120,000 years ago.
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal man and woman from the Neanderthal Museum. CREDIT: UNiesert/Wikipedia
Bones suggest Neanderthals were cannibals | World | News | Toronto Sun
