Nearly 1,000 Bones Re-Examined: Three Spanish Caves Show 1,500 Years of Cannibalism, From Mass Violence to Funerary Ritual
A new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science (volume 194) has re-examined nearly 1,000 human bones from three caves in Granada province, southern Spain, concluding that cannibalism in the Neolithic southern Iberian Peninsula recurred over some 1,500 years — and took very different forms in different places and periods, from collective violence to what was likely funerary ritual. The research was covered this week by The New York Times' Trilobites science column.
The work was led by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) together with the Mérida Institute of Archaeology of Spain's National Research Council (CSIC) and partner institutions. First author Palmira Saladié, Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo and colleagues used microscopic analysis to identify cut marks, fractures and tooth marks, combined with direct radiocarbon dating, re-studying assemblages first reported in the 1970s by archaeologist Miguel C. Botella.
Each cave tells a different story. At Malalmuerzo, dated to about 5300–4950 BCE, people of all ages, children included, were killed and consumed in an episode of collective violence. At Carigüela, cannibalism recurred across several Neolithic phases, including two human skulls fashioned into skull cups. At Majolicas, the latest site at about 3950–3760 BCE, the bones show no pattern of violence and many were stained red with cinnabar, which the researchers interpret as ritual, funerary cannibalism.
Across Europe, the researchers note, evidence of Neolithic cannibalism clusters in three periods: the late sixth millennium BCE, the mid-fifth millennium and the late third. "We can no longer speak of a single form of cannibalism," Rodríguez-Hidalgo said; more than a dozen Neolithic cannibalism sites are now known in Iberia, and "each case needs to be explained individually.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图为研究团队公布的西班牙新石器时代人骨标本，可见切割与损伤痕迹（图：A. Rodríguez-Hidalgo，IAM/CSIC） / A Neolithic human bone specimen released by the research team, showing cut and injury marks (Photo: A. Rodríguez-Hidalgo, IAM/CSIC)
