When we hear the term "cannibalism," our minds are likely to evoke scenes from Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, the accident involving those Uruguayan survivors in the Andes that caused such a stir around the world, or certain indigenous tribes far removed from Western civilization, not to mention numerous folk tales that allude to this phenomenon one way or another. Usually these images are loaded with negative connotations, seen as something alien to civilization and distant from our surroundings. However, if we were to go back some 800,000 years, we would observe that the idea of what is "civilized" has changed considerably. Thanks to advances in osteological analysis, as well as other fields, today we can confirm the presence of acts related to cannibalism throughout practically all regions of the world over History... and Prehistory, a period on which we will focus in this article.
Cannibalism, or better said anthropophagy, is defined by the RAE as the act or practice of eating human flesh from one's own species. However, context plays a significant role when it comes to this activity, and several types can be differentiated:
1. Cultural and/or Ritual Cannibalism
In this realm we could include anthropophagic phenomena that involve the presence of some form of social consent. When analyzing them, many researchers tend to make a subdivision that is summarized in the following two typologies: endocannibalism and exocannibalism (Aparicio Gervás and Tilley Bilbao, 2015: 76).
Endocannibalism, roughly speaking, is understood as the consumption of members of one's own group, while in exocannibalism the anthropophagy would be carried out on someone outside the population nucleus (Arens, 1980: 17-18).
According to M. Harris (1985), these two concepts could be understood as a funerary type of cannibalism and a warlike type respectively. In the former case, the corpse is the result of the natural death of some member of the group, while in exocannibalism we would find ourselves with bodies obtained by violent means, which justifies that this practice was carried out on people from another nucleus, being seen as enemies of the consumers.
2. Survival Cannibalism
For today's Western society it is undoubtedly the type of cannibalism best justified, since, as its name indicates, it is carried out with the aim of surviving. Hunger makes one "look away," leaving morality behind, regardless of the context in which a person has grown up. In Manuel Moros Peña's work Natural History of Cannibalism: A Surprising Journey Through Anthropophagy from Antiquity to Our Days (2008), we can observe countless examples of episodes where people have been forced to feed on their fellow species.
3. Pathological Cannibalism
It is the voluntary practice of anthropophagy, currently considered a criminal offense. In most cases, it is associated with necrophilia.
Once we delve into the matter and start looking at Prehistory, several questions begin to arise. Which species of the genus Homo practiced anthropophagy? Was it common or occasional? What were the motives that drove this behavior? Did all the types explained above come into play?
It is worth noting that what we know about Prehistory, in most cases, rests on shaky ground where answers cannot be given with certainty at least for now. In this article we will focus on clarifying these questions as much as possible, focusing on the Iberian Peninsula, for which we will take a tour of different sites where cannibalistic practices have been documented.
GRAN DOLINA
The first case of cannibalism documented in the peninsula – and the first worldwide to date – is located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos). In level TD6 of Gran Dolina we find remains that seem to be at least 11 individuals of the species Homo antecessor, dating back around 800,000 years. According to the analyses carried out, these are six children, three adolescents and two adults (Bermúdez de Castro et al., 2010: 11739). The remains are very crushed and fragmented, having been produced this way deliberately by other humans. Proof of this is the marks left by lithic tools, skinning, extraction of bone marrow, as well as human tooth marks (Saladié and Rodríguez-Hidalgo, 2016:1039).
What prompted this act? As the remains were studied, theories to explain cannibalism in TD6 have varied. The possibility of survival cannibalism due to lack of resources was soon ruled out, on one hand because the amount of animal remains found around Homo antecessor indicated a period of richness and diversity of species; and on the other, the confirmation that this practice was carried out several times over time (Saladié and Rodríguez-Hidalgo, 2016:1041).
Authors like Carbonell (2010) associate it more with cultural cannibalism of a gastronomic nature, finding human flesh included in the diet of these hominids.
EL MIRADOR CAVE
But it is not only at Gran Dolina where we observe evidence of anthropophagy. In the southern part of the Sierra de Atapuerca, El Mirador Cave presents itself, a cave filled with different layers of sediment spanning from Neolithic times to the Bronze Age, with remains of at least six individuals found in this last phase (Cáceres et al., 2007:902). Our protagonists were located within a small pit, with the possible intentional separation of six neurocrania that had been placed at the bottom of said pit under other remains. Fractures and marks from cutting and disarticulation by other humans (Vergès et al., 2002:115) as well as signs of bone cooking were documented; leading researchers to hypothesize about cannibalism in Atapuerca once again.
What type of anthropophagy do we have in this case? The bone remains from El Mirador Cave were found on ceramic vessels, leading to the initial idea that it was some kind of ritual where bones were buried after being eaten. However, Cáceres et al. (2007) explain that this intentional burial would have been carried out later by other inhabitants of the area, ruling out a ritual cannibalism hypothesis and leaning more towards one of gastronomic or survival nature. Thus, therefore, funerary behavior in El Mirador is not related to anthropophagy.
EL SIDRÓN
In Asturias, specifically in the municipality of Piloña, we have El Sidrón Cave, where fragmented bone remains belonging to the species Homo neanderthalensis were found. This site is included in this compilation due to some of them showing evidence of anthropic manipulation: cut marks, skinning, disarticulation, etc.
The main area is the Osario Gallery, where human remains from 13 Neanderthal individuals were found at level III. However, El Sidrón's deposit is more complex to understand as its formation was caused by the dragging of all materials from a possible upper gallery (Caballero Sastre, 2020:46).
The analyses carried out on the hominids in the cave have shown that they all suffered periods of physiological stress, with nutritional deficiencies reflected in their tooth enamel where signs of hypoplasias are observed (Caballero Sastre, 2020:42). This led researchers like Cole (2017) to think that the cannibalism practiced would be of a food nature. However, the displacement experienced by the remains implies incomplete information, so the type of anthropophagy in this place cannot be confirmed with certainty. Furthermore, genetic studies on these Neanderthals showed that individuals belonged to a close family unit (Caballero Sastre, 2020:16), thus it could also be endocannibalistic practices.
MALALMUERZO CAVE
Malalmuerzo Cave is located in Moclín, Granada, and has occupation from the Upper Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, as well as later during the Nazari period when it was also used (Botella et al., 2003).
The presence of cannibalism in this cave is found in Neolithic occupation levels where a set of scattered and quite fragmented human remains are presented, which mix with other faunal, ceramic, and lithic remains. Both in the human assemblage – at least 30 individuals of both sexes and all age ranges – and in the animal one, marks of cutting and skinning have been distinguished that relate to processing for consumption, according to Botella et al. (2003).
Along with these marks, evidence of cooking has also been found, as well as some thermal alterations linked to post-consumption waste, where some bones were burned. This, coupled with the finding of remains in a context of refuse, without order and mixed together (Solari Giachino, 2010: 224), leads researchers to discard ritual cannibalism, once again facing a case of gastronomic cannibalism.
SANTA MAIRA
North of Alicante, in Castell de Castells, we have the Coves de Santa Maira with occupation levels spanning from the Final Magdalenian to the Neolithic (Aura Tortosa et al., 2010: 169).
In stratigraphic unit 3 (UE 3), corresponding to the Mesolithic period, at least two individuals have been documented whose remains show signs of disarticulation, incisions, scrapings and percussion. However, the most interesting evidence, which undoubtedly proves cannibal consumption, are human bite marks found on two ribs (Aura Tortosa et al., 2010: 172).
As for the causes that prompted this activity, the few remains found could indicate casual anthropophagy (Morales Pérez et al., 2017:18). Survival cannibalism does not seem very convincing, as in Atapuerca, due to the wide variety of available resources in the environment. What is not ruled out is that this practice was embedded within some type of cultural context, given that we are dealing with a time of greater social and funerary complexity (Morales Pérez et al., 2017: 18).
CONCLUSIONS
With this article, we have highlighted not only the more common sites – such as Atapuerca – but also less known ones that provide a fuller picture of prehistoric peninsular cannibalism. Nonetheless, there are others that were not covered but deserve mention, like remains found in Fuentes de León Caves (Badajoz), Dehesilla Cave (Arcos de la Frontera, Cádiz) or El Toro Cave in the Torcal de Antequera (Málaga).
After this brief tour of these sites we can affirm that prehistoric cannibalism is a case study where there are still many things to say and discover, and from which new questions continue to arise. Where we could give an assertion with certainty is in the evidence of this practice throughout all prehistoric periods: Paleolithic (Gran Dolina), Mesolithic (Santa Maira), Neolithic (Malalmuerzo Cave) and Metal Age (Mirador Cave), proving that it is not something that is discarded as social complexity increases.
So far, the only species in which we could confirm anthropophagy is Homo antecessor, of whom we had evidence at Atapuerca. This is due to the fact that no other contemporary species has been known so far, so we must assume that cannibals would be of the same species as those consumed. However, in the case for example of Neanderthals from El Sidrón, we know what species was "the dish," but not the "diner," since they coexisted with Homo sapiens.
On the other hand, perhaps one of the most complex questions remains: why did they do it? We have proposed possible hypotheses that are contemplated in these sites to explain this phenomenon, and yet we still cannot select with certainty the correct answer. The information we have is limited, whether due to its absence or poor preservation in the archaeological record as well as lack of studies or other factors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Arens, W. (1979). The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy. Oxford University Press, USA.
- Aura Tortosa, J., Morales Pérez, J.V. & de Miguel Ibáñez, M.P. (2010). Human remains with anthropic marks from Santa Maira Caves. In Restos de vida, restos de muerte, 169-174.
- Bermúdez de Castro, J.M., Martinón-Torres, M., Prado, L., Gómez-Robles, A., Rosell, J., López-Polín, L., Arsuaga, J.L. & Carbonell, E. (2010). New immature hominin fossil from European Lower Pleistocene shows the earliest evidence of a modern human dental development pattern. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 107 (26), 11739 – 11744.
- Botella, M., Jiménez, S.A., Alemán, I., Du Souich, P. & García, C. (2003). Cannibalism in two Neolithic Spanish sites: Comparative study. In Antropología y Biodiversidad, 1, 65-77.
- Caballero Sastre, P. (2020). The cannibalism in European Neanderthal societies of the Middle Paleolithic: an exploration of contexts and causes. Universidad de Cantabria.
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- Harris, M. (1985). Bueno para comer. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
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- Solari Giachino, A. (2010). Identification of intentional manipulation marks on archaeological human bone remains. Thesis doctoral.
- Vergès, J.M., Allué, E., Angelucci, D.E., Cebrià, A., Díez, C., Fontanals, M., Manyanós, A., Montero, S., Moral, S., Vaquero, M. & Zaragoza, J. (2002). Sierra de Atapuerca during the Holocene: preliminary data on Bronze Age occupations in El Mirador Cave (Ibeas de Juarros, Burgos). In Trabajos de prehistoria, 59(1), 107-126.
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