Maszycka Cave, Poland
The ancient Europeans ate the brains of their enemies killed 18,000 years ago – revealed a study of skeletons from a cave in Poland, where they were found from marks of cuts and fractures suggestive of cannibalism.
A study last week, in Scientific Reports“Handless” human remains of a cave in Poland, which revealed that old European groups Cannibalizing the dead.
An analysis of the marks of cuts and fractures in bones suggests that, in an act of war, people removed the ears and they removed the brains of overdue enemies.
Researchers detail the cannibalism tests they found in 53 bones of the Maszycka cave, an archaeological site near Krakow, Poland.
As Live Science details, the bones were dated 18,000 years ago during the Magdalenian period of European prehistory, and came from at least 10 people: six adults and four children.
Using 3D microscopy techniques, investigators identified cuts of cuts and fractures in 68% of bones and excluded the hypotheses of death by carnivorous animals and accidental trampling as causes of injuries.
Analyzing more than 20 skull fragments, researchers identified cuts made by scalping, defoliation and removal of the ears and jaw. In addition, fractures along cranial sutures suggest that people the skull departed to the corpses specifically to remove the brains.
Other evidence of quartering can be seen in the shoulder, arms and leg bones – the investigation team said.
“The location and frequency of the cutting marks and the intentional fracture of the skeleton clearly show the nutritional exploitation of the bodies,” said the main author of the study, Francesc ItalianChasfrom the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), cited by Live Science.
Why and why cannibalism?
The archaeological evidence of the cave of Maszycka suggests that this incidence of cannibalism was not related to survival needs.
During the Magdalenian period (23,000 to 11,000 years ago), Europe was characterized by an increase in human populations.
The combination of too many people and few resources in the Magdalenian period may have led to territorial tensions and violent struggles for survival.
As there is no evidence that cannibalized people have been respectfully buried and human remains are mixed with slaughtered animals bones, researchers think this is a case of “War cannibalism”.
In the case of Maszycka cave skeletons, “the age profile resembles that of a complete nuclear family unit, suggesting that they could have been attacked, subjugated and subsequently cannibalized,” the investigators wrote.
Other European sites dating from the same period of time also have cannibalism evidence, suggesting that practice was an important part of culture in the magdalenian period, whether they were consuming their own dead or their enemies.
