Why was cannibalism practiced 5,700 years ago in a cave in Atapuerca?

BarcelonaWas cannibalism an act of love for family or neighbors, connecting the material world with the afterlife? An act of survival, of desperation in the face of hunger? The final episode after a violent confrontation? A research team led by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) has documented a new episode of cannibalism among livestock groups from the late Neolithic, 5,700 years ago, in the El Mirador cave (Atapuerca). "We have increasingly sophisticated techniques that allow us to understand why cannibalism was practiced during prehistory," says Palmira Saladié, the IPHES-BÚSQUEDA researcher who led the study. In this latest excavation, at least eleven individuals (children, adolescents, and adults) were found, ripped, fleshed, disarticulated, fractured, cooked, and consumed in a very short time. "Strontium isotopic analysis indicates that all the individuals consumed were of local origin and were devoured in just ten days. The fact that they were consumed in such a short time rules out a funerary ritual, and there is no evidence of extreme hunger," says Saladié. At that time, in the province of Burgos, there were forests and grasslands. Livestock-raising communities had access to wildlife such as deer, foxes, and rabbits, but also domestic animals such as sheep, goats, and cattle.

Researchers believe the eleven victims were eaten after a confrontation. "The injuries caused by cannibalism mask the signs of violence, but we believe this was a conflict between neighboring groups or between local communities and newcomers," says Saladié, who worked with Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo of the Institute of Archaeology-Mérida and Francesc Marginedas. The research has been published in Scientific Reports.

The intergroup confrontation ended with the elimination of an entire family group and the subsequent consumption of the victims, just before the space changed use and was used as a burial cave. Taphonomic analysis has identified cut marks, fractures to access the marrow, cooking, and even human tooth marks on the remains. "We know that the victims were all local, but we don't know the origin of the diners," says Saladié. This is not the first case of cannibalism detected in the El Mirador cave. In 2001, the remains of six individuals (adults, children, and adolescents) were found with clear marks of disarticulation and fleshing on long bones, scapulae, and phalanges, and signs of having been cooked.

This episode of cannibalism occurred in an even more recent period: around 3,400 years ago, during the Middle Bronze Age. In that case, taphonomic evidence shows that the bodies were consumed and abandoned, but later deliberately covered by another human group. Furthermore, the heads were polished and shaped into containers, a detail that leads researchers to hypothesize that some type of ritual related to cannibalism was involved. "The recurrence of these practices during prehistory in the El Mirador cave makes this site a key space for understanding prehistoric human cannibalism," Saladié argues.

Neolithic Violence

There are other episodes of cannibalism elsewhere in Europe. In Herxheim (Germany), a pit was found in which, some seven thousand years ago, half a thousand individuals with signs of cannibalism were buried. In the Fontbrégoua Cave in Provence, France, the remains of seven adults and six children were also found, mixed with the bones of animals that were dismembered and processed like livestock between eight and six thousand years ago.

Everything indicates that the massacres began with agriculture.. Probably due to population overcrowding and limited resources, these could also be political conflicts, or in some cases, because the first ethnic identities were beginning to emerge. "During the Neolithic period, in the Iberian Peninsula, but also in Europe, there were many episodes of violence, and massacres and cannibalism have been documented," explains Saladié. In fact, the research team links this episode to other outbreaks of violence. One of the oldest documented massacres in Europe was in Talheim, in southern Germany, where a 7,000-year-old agricultural site was discovered in 1983. Excavations uncovered a mass grave with 34 individuals: men, women, and children, piled up in no particular order or with any signs of funeral rites. Many of them displayed the same pattern of violence: deep cranial fractures caused by stone axes, arrow impacts, and blunt force trauma. Most showed no defensive wounds, suggesting that the attack was swift and lethal. The Els Trocs cave, located in the town of Bisaurri, in the Ribagorça region, is another site with traces of a bloodbath. The human remains found date back approximately 7,300 years, around 5300 BC, and present evidence of a violent massacre involving at least nine individuals, five adults and four children.