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| Artistic rendition of Homo antecessor practicing cannibalism at Sima de los Huesos. |
The field of paleoanthropology is rife with controversies, but one has recently been laid to rest based on extensive study and evidence. Scholars have uncomfortably admitted that our human ancestors did indeed participate in cannibalism, the act of consuming the flesh of individuals of the same species, but the motivations for these practices are not completely known at this time. There are several ideas, though. This blog post will explore the paleoanthropological evidence that demonstrates the existence of cannibalism among hominids and the potential motivations for why these incidences occurred.
The earliest evidence that supported the hypothesis that
hominids were potentially cannibals was from the Sima de los Huesos site. Homo
antecessor remains from 800,000 years ago provided evidence that scholar
supposed demonstrated cannibalism, but many were unconvinced. It was over the next few years that more
evidence surfaced, changing the tide of opinion among paleoanthropologists. Additional evidence of cannibalism turned up
but not just among H. antecessor. Sites featuring Homo neanderthalensis remains began demonstrating similar evidence
of cannibalism. More and more evidence
turned up for both species, and eventually it became clear that cannibalism was
not just a Homo sapiens phenomenon,
but one that has a long history in the human lineage.
Once scholars came to grips with acknowledging that
cannibalism did occur among our human ancestors the next question that had to
be addressed was why? By analyzing the evidence it was clear that
cannibalism occurred, and studies of cannibalism among modern humans and
primates could be used to answer this new question. It appears that one of three motivations may
have been at play regarding why cannibalism occurred:
- Cannibalism to meet nutritional needs: The evidence of cuts and breaks of the bones do point to cannibalism occurring among hominids to meet nutritional needs. While other meat sources were available for consumption among hominids eating other hominids was definitely convenient, although the consumption of others may have been done out of necessity when food supplies were low.
- Cannibalism to protect and affirm territories: The composite of the samples studied demonstrate individuals of all ages, including children, were consumed for cannibalistic purposes. Observations of chimpanzees show similar tendencies when territorial borders are threatened. In these situations, when an opposing group gets too close to another group’s territory they will attack the weakest members of the group, who most often are women and their children. The same could have been done among our hominid ancestors. It is one of the prevailing theories for why it occurred among Neanderthals as DNA analysis of cannibalized remains demonstrate they belong to nonrelated outsiders.
- Ritualized cannibalism to honor the dead: Based on studies of cannibalism among humans there are a few scholars who believe that our hominid ancestors may have consumed the flesh of the deceased as a means of honoring and remembering them. Many modern human groups will consume the ashes of the deceased for these purposes as they believe that consumption of the dead will incorporate their bodies and spirits into the living. While very little evidence has been brought forward to support this idea it is one that carries merit since the origins of the practice among humans is unknown and may be deeply rooted in our hominid ancestor’s own motivations.
In conclusion, we know that humans will turn to cannibalism
for various reasons, which may be tied to the practices that occurred among our hominid ancestors. Starting 800,000 years ago cannibalism became
a common trend among hominids. While the
motivations are not known they were most likely as complex as the reasons that
exist among H. sapiens today.
References
Carbonell, E.; Caceras, I.; Lozano, M.; Saladie, P.; Rosell,
J.; Lorenzo, C.; Vallverdu, J.; Huguet, R.; Canals, A.; Bermudez de Castro,
J.M. 2011. “Cultural Cannibalism as Paleoeconomic System
in the European Lower Pleistocene.” Current Anthropology 51: 539-549.
Hood, M. 2017. “For early humans, cannibalism more than just
a meal.” Phys.org.
Raff, J. 2016. “Cannibalism and Human Evolution.” Social Evolution Forum. https://evolution-institute.org/blog/cannibalism-and-human-evolution/
Rougier, H.; Crevecoeur, I.; Beauval, C.; Posth, C.; Flas,
D.; Wißing,
A.F.; Germonpre, M.; Gomez-Olivencia, P.S.; Semal, P.; van der Plicht, J.;
Bocherens, H.; Krause, J. 2016. “Neandertal cannibalism and Neandertal bones
used as tools in Northern Europe.” Nature 6: 1-11.
Tutt, C. 2003. “Cannibalism Among Fossil Hominids: Is There
Archaeological Evidence?” Totem: The
University of Western Ontario Journal of Archaeology 11: 113-120.
Wayman, E. 2012. “Early Cannibalism Tied to Territorial
Defense?” Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/early-cannibalism-tied-to-territorial-defense-25950664/
40 comments:
Akwila Cooks
Before I was in this class I never thought about where humans came from or who was here before us. But now learning about it is very interesting to me. The fact that the species that we are learning about are not humans but are somewhat like us and I have worried if cannibalism took place. It is interesting to know that humans will and can turn into cannibals.
I find it weird that these beings used to handle different situations that happened by being cannibals. Like eating the dead to me is in no way shape or form of honoring them
Remember your lessons on cultural relativism. mortuary customs do vary both within our culture and across cultures. The consumption of the dead is not a typical custom in mainstream society, but it is commonplace in other cultures. Understanding the motivations of this custom, specifically that these individuals believe they're carrying the dead with them as long as they live, can get you to the culturally relativistic perspective.
Michael Smith
To Be honest if i hadn't taken you class Dr. Boston, my mind would automatically think that hominids uses of cannibalism is vile and horrid and not truly understanding the purpose of why they were forced to use cannibalism. When you talked about cultural relativism and how someone is able to hold there judgement, it got me thinking about how i automatically judge strange things that i'm not used to . But ever since that lesson it helped me have a broader prospective of things. When it comes to cannibalism i can now understand the fact why early hominids did what they did. The ending result is that they were trying to survive. Not saying that cannibalism is right but i understand where they are coming from.
I'm glad you're able to take some of the information from the class and apply it to understanding foreign and strange things, such as this. :) I agree. I do not like the concept of cannibalism, but as me and my friends have previously discussed under certain circumstances (such as a zombie apocalypse) we are willing to resort to a variety of activities that we would not do otherwise. That being said a few of them are not joining my zombie survival team since they said that they'd eat my dog as a matter of survival before they'd eat someone else (jerks!). :)
I don't see how hominids didn't get sick from eating other people. I'm sure if I ate my roommates arm I'd be pretty sick. Like were they using fire to cook body parts or did they eat them raw.
Actually, contrary to popular belief, eating human flesh won't cause irreparable harm as long as the human is healthy. That being said I don't recommend long pig. As for our hominids ancestors they were eating that meat raw it appears, although it's unclear. There are certain organs that we have that are pretty useless but may have been used for raw meat consumption.
Terri Baptiste
I'm not surprised that humans turned to cannibalism because they had to fight against other groups for food and when food supplies were low they had no other choice.
I couldn't bring myself to eat another human like they did for whatever reason that they chose. But however, I find it interesting that they chose to eat their own before going out and hunting animals. I wonder how they felt while participating this type of thing.
-Armoni Mosby-Sheard
The idea of practicing cannibalism to meet nutritional needs seems like a reasonable theory as to why hominids would eat one another, and the use of cannibalism as a ritual seems violable simply because it relates to a spiritual gesture, but I don't quite grasp the "protect and affirm territories" theory. The other two reasonings for hominid cannibalism make more sense to me than the reasoning to perhaps guard territories.
This is very interesting. How can perform DNA analysis to prove there was cannibalism among early hominids? I would imagine the most you would find was bones and ashes. How can this be a accurate source without writen/drawed record of it.
Well, as far as I know we cannot do DNA analysis to discover cannibalism, but we can use bioarchaeological methods and potentially isotopic analyses to understand this issue. I'm not sure where we are on isotopic analyses and their accuracy, though.
Cannibalism is very frowned upon in this modern age and I personally believe it is wrong to practice. To understand that many of our ancestors possibly practiced this years ago is stunning. Sort of a shock to me as I would never even think about eating another person. I understand that we have survival instincts that we fall into upon the absence of food and other factors.
This was an interesting read, although I am not as shocked as others might be. Cannibalism sounds like the most rational thing to do when there's no other source of meat around, am I right? I joke about this topic, though it is actually unreal to think about our ancestors eating one another. I am curious only about how evidence to prove such barbarism existing in that early of a species is even found.
Sydney, there are definitely evidence of "last resort" cannibalism among several different cultures across time (as well as other incidences of it). As for how do we know that hominids were eating each other? We can examine the cut marks on the bones themselves and compare them to known butchery marks on animals that were eaten in the past and what we (as modern humans) do today in regards to butchering meat. We see those same cut marks on the hominid remains, which leads to the idea of cannibalism among our hominid ancestors (as predators would not be cutting bones in these ways).
We actually address this in several upper division anthropology classes, specifically Anth 451 and Anth 310. If you are interested in learning more I recommend enrolling in those classes when offered (which will most likely be next year). :)
Before this class I wasn't aware of the life before us . Reading the blog And learning about the existence of the cannibalism is very Interesting because I'm actually learning something new
Tiffany Creer
I understand the reasons why they where into cannibalism but i must admit i cant wrap my mind around eating another person. Seeing that it was a completely different time and way of life i am sure if i was born in that timeand raised in that way i would be eating other people too though .
Even though I don't necessarily agree with cannibalism, who am I to judge? There are different cultures that believe and practice this. In my opinion though, I believe burying the dead is the best way to show respect and to honor them.
I feel like this article goes to show how different it really was back then. If you told someone that you were going to eat your mother who passed away to honor them, you would be told you were crazy! However, to the early ancestors, that was a common occurance.
Entering this class has taught me a lot of things about humans that I never took the time to think upon. I've learned a lot about the human ancestors and the before life of humans. I find it interesting that humans turned to cannibalism because they had to fight against other groups for food.
Thinking about it this way, cannibalism is really only taboo in certain cultures. In our culture, we consider cannabilistic societies as primitive and violent, but eating the dead to honor them, does make sense as a way of preventing disease, just like burying or cremation. Doing this to often, though, would actually cause disease.
I find this as an attention grabber the reason i say that is because you wouldn't think humans will turn into cannibalism. It's amazing how they prove this with a dna analysis , then it also prove that there were cannibalism among early hominids.
Kenneth Granger
There have been a few recent incidents of cannibalism for survival among modern humans (e.g. the Donner Party and the South American soccer team). Both of these involved extreme situations and a need to survive them. But cannibalism is culturally defined, as noted in the post itself, so it happens more often than you may realize. But that's a post for another day.
phinasiaButler
never in a million years would i think that cannibalism is okay. but i know in times that were way befor modern days cannabalism was quite common in some parts of the world. cannabalism sometimes would be to survive and whenever you get into that place they survival will be the ultimate goal.
It is crazy to know that people believe cannibalism is okay especially believing that it is better than eating animals. I do know in the modern times that it was normal for people to do that but personally I don't believe that I would be able to eat another human. This was a interesting blog though as far as learning how people picked their next victim and the main victims being women and children.
Would they ever kill for cannibalism or would they let them die naturally and then use them for a meal? I hope I never am put in the situation where I have to turn to cannibalism.
Amber Barnes
This is really cool. I know that animals will also commit cannibalism; rather that be for dominance or protection. I did not know that my ancestors committed the acts of cannibalism though. It makes me wonder how harsh things had to get in order to result to such behavior. All I know is that I am glad to live in the time I do so I never have to do such acts!
I'm not sure if they really can tell that information in the bones, but based on the evidence that has been gathered I'm assuming that the scholars believe that there as intentional hunting going on. As I have not read the articles critically in that respect I cannot comment on their evidence.
I think its weird they like to eat dead humans. Wouldn't you think they would get sick from eating someone dead?
I was aware that cannibalism with eating human flesh for nutrition but I didn't know that people also used it protect territories or even use it as a ritual for protecting the dead, that was something very new to me. Its not really uncommon to have someone or something protect your territory but it is uncommon to consume ones ashing because to me it doesn't seem like your talking about when a family member passes you keep the ashes it seems like your talking about how they enter the ashes in their body somehow.
-Kaleshia Gibson
I am neither advocating nor encouraging cannibalism, but it's safe to eat human flesh as long as the person is healthy and does not carry a disease that can be passed even postmortem.
Before reading this I thought that cannibalism was only in zombie movies or animals eating other animals . But why not just wait until one die to eat them ? Is it because its more fresher than the dead meat its so weird to me . Also one more question do people still believe in this ?
- T'Liyah Townsend
They honored the dead by eating them???! NO WAY JOSÉ! That is nasty.
Cannibalism is something I believe shouldn't be practiced. however it amazes me that there is reason for such a thing to be practiced. I didn't know you could eat another human without getting sick.
I don't believe eating human flesh is something to be proud of. I would instantly think that eating another human would make you sick. the fact that our ancestors used to eat people in honor of them being dead is weird and pretty gross. I wonder if there are cultures still out there that do it the dead.
-Tae'lor Pearson
Cannibalism is fascinating to me. Humans before us honored the dead by eating them. Humans today have burials for their loved ones. I wouldn't eat another human I'm just saying its very interesting to learn that such a thing existed once upon a time.
- Malacia Lowe
Hi my name is Avery Davis,and I think this blog is so interesting. I totally disagree wit cannibalism for it is disgusting and inhumane. I think rather take the funeral to honor the dead not eat and poop them later.
I always wonder who was her before us, but i don't think i ever really wondered where human actually came from. It was also very interesting finding out that human can turn into cannibals. Like why in your right mind would you want to do that.
-Kyla Thomas
I am seeing in the comments that there is no physical sickness associated with cannibalism. That answered my first question. My second question is, I wonder why we think so, as in, do we just assume that mad cow disease is the same with humans? Because a lot of species participate in cannibalism and we don't necessarily assume that it makes them sick, in fact, for many it's routine.
Tori Spencer
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