A HUGE family was slaughtered, skinned, cooked and eaten in a cave nearly 6,000 years ago, a new study reveals.
Neolithic cannibals in what’s now northern Spain feasted on at least 11 people – including kids – their remains show.
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Bones discovered at the El Mirador cave showed clear evidence of cannibalism, including cut marks, human bite marks and fractures for marrow extraction.
The bones also showed signs of being boiled, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.
The gruesome event is believed to have occurred over a few days during the final phase of the Neolithic – or New Stone Age – occupation of the cave.
Researchers believe the cannibalism was a result of violence between groups – not ritual or famine.
“This was neither a funerary tradition nor a response to extreme famine,” said study co-author Francesc Marginedas, who is an IPHES evolutionary anthropologist and quaternary archaeologist.
“The evidence points to a violent episode, given how quickly it all took place – possibly the result of conflict between neighbouring farming communities,” he added.
Based on radiocarbon dating, the bones were found to be between 5,573 and 5,709 years old.
A chemical analysis revealed that the individuals were local to the region and likely a nuclear or extended family, with ages ranging from under seven to over 50.
The analysis also confirmed suspicions they had been killed over a short period of time.
The discovery has captured the attention of historians studying the Neolithic period as it offers rare evidence of conflict-driven cannibalism.
The Neolithic period, which lasted till around 2000 BC, is understood to have been marked by upheaval and conflict.
Humanity shifted from nomadic foraging and hunting to settled farming and animal domestication – sparking new social hierarchies and competition over land and resources.
“Conflict and the development of strategies to manage and prevent it are part of human nature,” said study co-author, archaeologist and IPHES researcher Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo.
“Ethnographic and archaeological records show that even in the less stratified and small-scale societies, violent episodes can occur in which the enemies could be consumed as a form of ultimate elimination.”
In the early 2000s, archaeologists found the remains of six people with similar marks at El Mirador cave.
“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,” wrote the authors of the study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The remains are younger than the recently discovered ones, dating to the early Bronze Age – about 4,600 to 4,100 years old.
Meanwhile, human remains recently found in Maszycka Cave in Poland suggest victims of cannibalism during an act of war.
A study published in Scientific Reports in February analysed 53 bones belonging to at least 10 people, six adults and four children.
The 18,000-year-old bones show signs of butchering and were hard to distinguish from the animal bones they were found alongside.
Cut marks and fractures reveal the attackers cracked open skulls and scooped out brains.
The pattern indicates they targeted the most calorie-rich parts – the brains, bone marrow and muscles – shortly after death.
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