Engraved human bones reveal the macabre rituals of Britain’s prehistoric cave cannibals
‘They’ve cleaned off the flesh, then someone sits down and very carefully carves this design and only afterwards do they break open the bone to get the marrow out’
Engraved bones unearthed in a Somerset cave have revealed new evidence of macabre cannibalistic rituals carried out by early humans in Britain.
The latest analysis of the bones, which were first discovered in the 1980s in Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge, show signs of having been filleted using sophisticated butchery techniques, decorated and gnawed by fellow humans around 15,000 years ago.
Previous investigations of the remains, belonging to a three-year-old child, two adolescents and at least two adults, already pointed to the grisly possibility that the individuals had been eaten by fellow early modern humans.
Until now, though, it was unclear what form this extreme act had taken. Some suggested the individuals had been consumed not for nutrition, but as a homage to the spirits of the dead. Others floated the possibility of “crisis cannibalism”, where fellow humans were eaten in the throes of hunger and desperation during a harsh winter.
The latest analysis, focusing on a single radius bone, partially resolves this question by suggesting that there was at least some element of ritual in the gory proceedings.
The study describes for the first time decorative zigzag incisions on the bone that appear to have been carried out between the butchering process and consumption.
