Archaeological Examples of Cannibalism

As recently discussed on this blog cannibalism is a universal taboo, meaning societies and cultures around the world agree that it is prohibited.  This does not, however, appear to have been the case among some of our human ancestors (e.g., Homo antecessor and Paranthropus boisei), who practiced cannibalism for unknown reasons.  It also occurred in the archaeological record among some specific populations, although the reasons for not observing this taboo are imprecisely known.  Today's blog post addresses three separate archaeological examples of cannibalism among anatomically modern humans:

 

Figure 1: Skull cup of the Magdelanian culture 

 

Cannibalism among Paleolithic Europeans 

Among the Magdalenian populations (15,000-12,000 years before present) cannibalism was quite frequent and commonplace.  As previously addressed on this blog there is evidence of Magdelanian populations cannibalizing fellow humans. There are several examples of the Magdalenian people modifying human bones into cups (Figure 1) and jewelry, which further supports cannibalism occurring among these populations.  This evidence has been found at sites in England, France, and Spain.  For many decades scholars believed these were acts of mortuary cannibalism, meaning the consumption of the dead for funerary purposes, but more recent evidence out of Poland suggests that these acts may have either been gastric or warfare cannibalistic events, which means they ate people as part of their regular diet or as an act of revenge (respectively).  The evidence of other foods resources, of which there were plenty, rules out survival cannibalism (consuming human flesh as a last resort).

 

Figure 2: Mesa Verde, Ancestral Puebloan site

 

Cannibalism among the Ancestral Puebloans 

The Ancestral Puebloans of the American Southwest (Figure 2) also practiced cannibalism.  At the site of Cowboy Wash (dating between 900 CE to 1300 CE) there is evidence of cannibalism taking place, although the motivations remain unclear.  There are those who put forward the idea that it was warfare cannibalism to keep out enemies who were intruding on Ancestral Puebloans territory.  Others believe it may have been an act of survival cannibalism, particularly as we know the downfall of the Ancestral Puebloan society was due to climatic changes that led to desertification and famine.  Substantial violence was recorded during this period.  Still others claim the evidence is inconclusive of cannibalism altogether despite there being evidence of cannibalism at over 70 sites throughout the region.

Figure 3: Mr. & Mrs. Henry Reed, members of the Donner Party

Cannibalism among the American Settlers

Then there is the Donner Party, probably one of the more popular examples of cannibalism.  This is the failed emigration of residents from Illinois, Missouri, and other Midwestern states to California.  They left Independence, Missouri, following a trail guide with little experience and who had never taken the specific route he claimed would get everyone to their final destination quickly and safely. A series of unfortunate events and poor decisions led the Donner Party (so named after a member of the group) to separate and eventually get trapped in the Sierra Nevadas. The settlers were trapped for several months, and they resorted to survival cannibalism when they did not have food resources.  Archaeological evidence at one of the camps was improperly reported in popular media as having no evidence of cannibalism occurring there, when the reality was that the evidence demonstrated human and animal remains were present. Unfortunately, the remains were in too poor condition to be able to identify if and to what extent cannibalism took place.  Because of the historic reports (specifically interviews of the survivors) of cannibalism we do know that cannibalism took place among the Donner Party survivors (and some of those who did not survive).

 

References

Bello, S., Saladie, P., Caceras, I., Rodriguez-Hidalgo, A., & Parfitt, S. (2015). Upper Paleolithic Ritualistic Cannibalism at Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK): The Human Remains from Head to Toe. Journal of Human Evolution, 170-189.

Caceras, I. a. (1999). Human cannibalism in the early Pleistocene of Europe (Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Journal of Human Evolution, 591-622.

Dixon, K., Novak, S., Robbins, G., Schablitsky, J., Scott, G., & Tasa, G. (2010). "Men, Women, and Children Starving": Archaeology of the Donner Family Camp. American Antiquity, 627-656.

Lindenbaum, S. (2004). Thinking About Cannibalism. Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 475-498.

Lukaschek, K. (2000/2001). The History of Cannibalism. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.

Marginedas, F., Saladié, P., Połtowicz-Bobak, M., Terberger, T., Bobak, D., & Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A. (2025). New insights of cultural cannibalism amongst Magdalenian groups at Maszycka Cave, Poland. Scientific Reports, 2351.

Pobiner, B., Pante, M., & Keevil, T. (2023). Early Pleistocene cut marked hominin fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Scientific Reports, 9896.

Rudolph, K. (2009). A TAPHONOMIC ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SKELETAL MATERIAL FROM AZTALAN: CANNIBALISM, HOSTILITY AND MORTUARY VARIABILITY. Milwaukee: The University of Wisconsin.

Saladie, P. a.-H. (2017). Archaeological Evidence for Cannibalism in Prehistoric Western Europe: Homo antecessor to the Bronze Age. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1034-1071.

Saladie, P., Huguet, R., Rodriguez-Hidalgo, A., Caceras, I., Esteban-Nadal, M., Arsuaga, J., . . . Carbonell, E. (2012). Intergroup cannibalism in the European Early Pleistocene: The range expansion and imbalance of power hypotheses. Journal of Human Evolution, 682-695.

Turner, C. A. and J.A. Turner (1999). Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press.

Villa, P. (1992). Cannibalism in Prehistoric Europe. Evolutionary Anthropology, 93-104.