Decryption – A team of archaeologist has uncovered in the El Mirador cave of dozens of human bones carrying the stigma left by anthropophagous acts.
Eat or be eaten … a subject that fascinates as much as he has been able to divide the scientific community since the discovery, in the 1980s in Herxheim in Germany, of the remains of several hundred individuals victims of a cannibal banquet 5000 years ago. Recent discoveries in the cave of El Mirador, in the Sierra d’Atapurca (north of Spain), bring a new example of anthropophagous behavior there is, this time, a little less than 6000 years, in Neolithic Europe.
Nearly 240 human remains belonging to at least eleven individuals (including children) were uncovered by the Palmira Saladié team, archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution of Tarragona in Spain (Iphs). All carry marks linked to post -mortem manipulations. Most are tinted, indicating that they have been subject to cremation. More than 130 have traces of cutting. Scientists have also identified butcher’s, slicing marks, etc.
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