SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA, SPAIN—Hundreds of human bone fragments found at El Mirador Cave in Sierra de Atapuerca are evidence of a gruesome event that occurred during the late Neolithic period, according to a Popular Science report. The remains of 11 individuals, including children, adolescents, and adults, displayed signs of butchery, defleshing, cooking, and even marks left by human teeth. These suggest that the bodies of the dead were consumed in an act of cannibalism around 5,500 years ago. Isotope analysis revealed that the deceased were all local to the area and likely part of one extended family. At the time, European communities were undergoing major transformations, as agriculture and a more sedentary existence was replacing nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles. It was also a period marred by violence. Researchers believe that the cases of cannibalism were not driven by hunger or necessity, or were not even part of an elaborate funerary ritual, but by one group’s intention of declaring their dominance over another rival population. “We believe this is a case of wartime cannibalism, in which one group attacked and consumed members of another, possibly as a way to assert control and reinforce social dominance,” said Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution archaeologist Francesc Marginedas. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports. To read about another discovery from El Mirador Cave, go to "Around the World: Spain."
