ZAP // Salad, P. and to the Tom Björklund
Cutting marks in a cervical vertebra of a child found in atapuerca, in Spain, suggest that the HOMO predecessor He practiced cannibalism – and was not weird to choose his victims.
About 850,000 years ago, a small child has been beheaded and cannibalized, suggest the cutting marks on one of his neck bones.
The bone, which belonged to a HOMO predecessorarchaic human species, was found in Greater Dolinain the archaeological site of Atapuerca, in northern Spain.
An analysis of the bone indicates that the child had between 2 and 5 years when it died.
“This case is particularly impressivenot only due to the age of the child, but also due to the accuracy of the cutting marks ”, explains Palmira Saladiéco-director of Gran Dolina’s excavation in a recently published.
The brands identified in the bone are a direct evidence that the child was treated “like any other prey”, says the researcher of IPHES-CERCA.
The investigation team escaped a set of 10 skeletons, many of which show meat removal cuts and intentional fractures typically found in bones of animals that were eaten.
All newly discovered skeletons belonged to the HOMO predecessora kind of archaic human that extinguished about 770,000 years ago.
O H. predecessor has only been identified so far at the atapuerca site, so its position in the human genealogical tree It’s not clear.
Since it was discovered in 1997, experts have discussed if this old human group was the Ancestor of Neanderthals and Humans or if it was a branch of human lineage. Anyway, the H. predecessor It is one of the first human relatives found in Europe.
Over three decades of excavation on the site, the Gran Dolina cave has already revealed human cannibalism; about 30% of the bones found in the cave so far have cutting marks that suggest that these first humans were eaten.
Saladié, P. et al / iPhes-Cerca
Bones cut marks found in Spain are the oldest evidence of human cannibalism
“The preservation of fossil surfaces It’s extraordinary“Palmira Saladié said“ the cut marks in the bones do not appear in isolation. Human bite marks were identified in the bones – this is the most reliable evidence that the bodies found in the place were in fact consumed“.
Newly-found skeletons reinforce the idea that the first humans They used their companions as a food resource And perhaps as a means of control territorythe investigators said.
“What we are documenting now is the continuity of this cannibalism behavior,” says Saladié. “The treatment of the dead was not exceptional, but repeated.”
The 10 skeletons, including the beheaded and cannibalized child, were dated between 850,000 and 780,000 years ago. These dates make bones the older evidence of human relatives in Europe – and also the definitive example oldest human cannibalism to date.
Gran Dolina has not yet been fully excavated, so it may be hiding more human remains – that could shed light on the enigmatic human relative H. predecessor.
“Every year we discovered new evidence that forcing us to rethink how they lived, how they died, and how the dead were treated Almost a million years ago, ”concludes Saladié.
