Cultural Cannibalism as a Paleoeconomic System in the European Lower Pleistocene

Evidence of human cannibalism is currently found in many archaeological assemblages from different chronologies. The TD6 level of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos), dated to more than 800 ky, is the oldest case known hitherto.

To date 165 remains have been recovered which correspond to a minimum of 11 individuals of different ages. The analysis of those cranial and postcranial remains of Homo antecessor has established the presence of several modifications of anthropic origin that are related to carcass exploitation. marks show that the corpses of these individuals were processed in keeping with the mimetic mode used with other mammal carcasses: skinning, defleshing, dismembering, evisceration and periosteum and marrow extraction. The Cutmarks, peeling and percussion butchery techniques exhibited in TD6 show the fundamental intention of obtaining meat and marrow and maximally exploiting nutrients. Once consumed, human and non-human remains were dumped, mixing them together along with lithic tools.

a) Some skeletal elements of Homo antecessor from level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) - b) Female individual mandible of Homo antecessor recovered during the 2003 season - c) Microscopic detail of cut marks present in the scapula of Homo antecessor - d) Metacarpal of Homo antecessor with cut marks.

Cannibalism in TD6 cannot have been an isolated event since it has been documented in different archaeostratigraphic units. Sedimentary characteristics have allowed us to identify a succession of events in a dilated temporal sequence.

The abundant evidence of cannibalism, the number of individuals, their age profile and the archaeostratigraphic distribution all suggest that the motive for cannibalism in level TD6 was nutritional. The cannibalism has been included as a subsistence strategy of Homo antecessor. This strategy was incorporated as a successful behaviour against another group to compete for resources and territory. This type of cannibalism would have reaped a double benefit. On the one hand it served as a dietary purpose, while on the other it would have proved useful in defending the group’s territory from other human groups. Anthropophagy was practiced for a long period of time during which humans of one group consumed those of another. The represented ages of Homo antecessor (infants and juveniles) suggest that individuals that would have posed a lower risk for hunters and that would have been effective in the strategy of controlling competitors were sought out. The pyramid of mortality suggests exocannibalism as Homo antecessor would have been limiting the reproductive capabilities of the competitor group.

In conclusion, about a million years ago the hominids of level TD6 added cannibalism to their set of survival strategies as a way of competing with other human groups for available resources. This practice, accepted and included in their social system, is the oldest example of cultural cannibalism known to date.

For further information

Article "Cultural Cannibalism as a Paleoeconomic System in the European Lower Pleistocene" A. Rodríguez-Hidalgo" Carbonell, E et al. Current Anthropology, 51:539-549, August 2010

Contact

Isabel Cáceres

icaceres@prehistoria.urv.cat

Bronze Age cannibalism in Atapuerca

Evidence for Bronze Age cannibalism in El Mirador Cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain), American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Volume 133, Issue 3, Date: July 2007, Pages: 899-917

Isabel Cáceres, Marina Lozano, Palmira Saladié

Área de Prehistoria de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona, IPHES (Institut de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social), Fundación Atapuerca

During excavations of the Bronze Age levels at El Mirador Cave, a hole containing human remains was found. Taphonomic analysis revealed the existence of cutmarks, human toothmarks, cooking damage, and deliberate breakage in most of the remains recovered, suggesting a clear case of gastronomic cannibalism. The piled distribution of the remains, the uneven skeletal representation, and the chronological difference between the pit and the remains suggest that these bones were subsequently buried by a human group that inhabited into the cave later in time.

Outside Trinchera del Ferrocarril complex and Sima de los Huesos site, El Mirador Cave is located at the southern side of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). The Bronze Age remains noticed here appeared in a 6 m2 exploratory excavation. Dating based on charcoal and bone shows that MIR4 corresponds to the Middle Bronze Age. The human remains provide calibrated dates between 4400 and 4100 BP. Dates indicate that the human remains considered here would fit chronologically into the Early Bronze Age.

Dorsal vertebrae exploitation pattern (MIR4-P22-212a and 212b):

cutmarks (arrow) cross both vertebrae as a result of the same

action. Also there are toothmarks on the laminae and peeling

of the spinal process. The articular facets have completely

disappeared.

The assemblage of human remains recovered from El Mirador Cave consists of 106 specimens belonging to at least six individuals. These remains show evidence of systematical dismemberment, defleshing, and consumption. The distribution of these human remains, with skulls at the bottom and postcranial bones on cranial remains, the abundant bones breakage and the obvious presence of cutmarks, cooking damage, and possible human toothmarks, provide evidences of cannibalistic practices during recent periods of prehistory. All taphonomic alterations on these human remains are anthropogenic in origin. Most incisions indicate that these bodies were defleshed and disarticulated. Cutmarks appear in areas of muscle insertion, following patterns of processing, which are similar in all individuals. Another significant feature of the assemblage is a high degree of bone fragmentation. Analysis of the fracture outline shows a majority to have curved/V-shaped with mixed angles and smooth edges. These features suggest that the breakage occurred while bone was fresh. Human toothmarks in El Mirador Cave are always superficial and small. The size of toothmarks, the presence of peeling associated with toothmarks, crenullated edges on very fragile bones, the similarity with experimental specimens, together with the absence of other modifications, which are typical of carnivores, allow us to propose that in El Mirador Cave, human toothmarks have been identified.

These remains were subject to complex perimortem processing, though it is not possible to determine how the individuals died. The human bodies had been processed similarly to other animals. This processing pattern is similar to that observed in butchered animals from this as well other archaeological sites. There are clear similarities with other archaeological assemblages displaying evidence of nutritional cannibalism, such as published for other sites like Moula-Guercy, Gough’s Cave, Grotte des Perrats, Fontbrégoua, Las Majólicas and the cave of Malalmuerzo or Mancos.

The presence of perimortem cutmarks, human toothmarks, bone breakage, and effect of cooking strongly suggest the existence of Bronze Age gastronomic cannibalism in El Mirador Cave.

To comments icaceres@prehistoria.urv.cat