Has man been a cannibal during his history, science seems to say yes. But under certain conditions.
Archaeologists have just found new evidence suggesting that humans were cannibalistic in their history. A team of researchers have just focused their efforts on a 1.45 million year old bone and say it is the oldest evidence of cannibalism yet discovered.
All of their discoveries have been published in the journal Scientific Reports. Contrary to what urban legends might assert, prehistoric men were not cannibals. This practice has only been found in a few specific situations. Man would very quickly have developed a respect for the body of the deceased, refusing to see it as a succulent meal.
The conditions of this act have yet to be known.
The rare traces of humans having been devoured mainly relate to Pliocene men, but they were above all victims of carnivorous predators with whom they had to fight. Scientists thought they had initially found new evidence for these carnivorous attacks. In 2017 they became interested in an excavation site in Kenya.
By analyzing a tibia the scientists managed to identify what looked more like cut marks than bite marks. These very precise demarcations show that the bone has been worked. Of the 11 marks discovered, 9 were made with a tool. Scientists quickly noticed that they were all placed where bone and muscle meet.
These marks show that all the meat around the bone has been meticulously removed. For researcher Briana Pobiner, who is leading this study, this evidence clearly demonstrates that certain human species resorted to cannibalism. The scientist specifies, however, that the conditions that led these men to eat each other for food are not known.
Cannibalism: a practice dating back millions of years
Man, even in his recent history, can resort to cannibalism to survive. Several examples, in particular of air crashes, in recent years show that this solution can be used in the event of a last resort. The oldest traces of this practice therefore date back more than a million years. But archaeologists are hopeful of finding other, even older evidence of cannibalism.
Man started adding meat to his diet 2.5 million years ago. This practice could have started in extreme conditions with cannibalism, the first source of meat available to our distant ancestors.
