Was 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.