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Neanderthals Were Cannibals, Study Confirms
livescience.com — Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain.
fatmike- 528 diggs
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- atdigg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+44Not such a big surprise, modern humans have been canibals too at some point in history.
- BOFO, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Plus I'd imagine that finding other sources for food back then wouldn't be so easy for a lot of people.
- ChillHomie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38I'm so hungry I could eat a caveman
- jdb252, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4So easy, even a caveman could eat it!
- ChillHomie, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3@jdb252
Joke was already made by mookiemookie - andydumi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6There are still groups of modern human who are cannibals.
- timxpx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10@atdigg
i had a professor explain this because of the what she called the 'protein theory' -- your body naturally craves protein because you need it to make amino acids and sustain life and yada yada yada, and when there are no animals to hunt or herd, then people make an excellent source for protein.
she had this whole thing about why the step pyramids in mexico had grooves down the sides of the stairs leading to the top -- they would throw the people they sacrificed from the top and as they got mauled going down the stairs, the blood would funnel down the grooves of the stairs and they would collect it at the bottom to drink.
interesting lady this professor. digg down if i'm wrong, the lady did talk about bestiality a bit excessively... - mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@timxpx
You are not incorrect...it is one possible explanation for it. But I think trying to explain cannibalism to biological motivation is merely a way for people to feel more comfortable with a practice that clearly existed but is not socially normal today. it could have had biological motivation, but it also may have been a mere cultural thing rather than biological.
For example, a group of humans in the South Pacific were practicing cannibalism...the women and children would eat their deceased husband/fathers brains because it gave them spiritual power. (They were actually gettign a form of Mad Cow Disease from it which is sort of interesting.) Many try to explain everything to the biological, but there are many aspects of human culture that we can simply not explain biologically and have therefore attributed to culture. - illyriah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Yeah, but I bet this research cost an arm and a leg.
- koolaide, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Heh, for some reason, I thought it said something about the Netherlands and cannabis.
- llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1mmmm tastes like chicken
- dreserd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1In Russia, caveman eats you.
- dvdcr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well i dont know about the Aztecs or Mayas but I know that the Incas did collect the human blood not to drink it but to offer it to the "pacha mama"(earth mother)
So i think the same thing was for the aztecs... but who knows.... - TOTALineptitude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Did anybody else mis-read the title as "Netherlands were Cannibis" ?
- WomunOfColour, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@mrhaines
Culture does not develop in a vacuum. From what I recall, those people in the South Pacific had very few sources of protein, and cannibalism was sometimes necessary, justified by ritual. - WomunOfColour, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea#Cannibalism
"According to Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, cannibalism may have arisen in New Guinea due to the scarcity of sources of protein. The traditional crops, taro and sweet potato, are low in protein compared to wheat and pulses, and the only edible animals available were small and unappetizing, such as mice, spiders, and frogs. Cannibalism led to the spread of kuru, prompting the Australian administration to outlaw the practice in 1959." - JohnboiWaltune, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Cannibalism in human cultures was often practiced as a funeral rite, not for lack of food.
- vertinox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@"Cannibalism in human cultures was often practiced as a funeral rite, not for lack of food."
Except for Native groups who ate their vanquished in order to steal their spiritual powers. You know... Like Aztecs eating the legs of warriors who ran fast so they too would be able to run fast.
- MiddleGirth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22Roast Dwayne, with the mango salsa.
- ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13today we have U.S.D.A. Prime... back then they had "Natural Select"
mmm Natural Selection is tasty... - mookiemookie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27Cannibalism: So Easy a Caveman Can Do It!
- ebcreasoner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3In the time it takes to roast your hunting partner...
- ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13today we have U.S.D.A. Prime... back then they had "Natural Select"
- llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2It's like Natural Selection or something ... ;)
- awm4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23Hm, How am I to feed my Wilma and Bam Bam this week?
1) Go after a big Woolly Mammoth with a spear.
or
2) Kill Barney Rubble while he sleeps.- jcapogna, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Just give them some Fruity Pebbles.
BAAAAARNEY! - gwinerreniwg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Oooh awm4 - I have to correct your cartoonage: Wilma and Fred's kid was Pebbles. Barney and Betty's kid was Bam-Bam.
- cdahlkvist, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Fred referred to Wilma's Ya-Ya as her "Bam Bam"
- marinist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'd prefer to eat Betty.
- jcapogna, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Just give them some Fruity Pebbles.
- raingrove, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Then they got holes in their brains.... eventually going extinct... cannibalism... mad neanderthal disease..
- mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Fore tribe in New Guinea actually got a form of Mad Cow from eating their relatives brains...
- marinist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Do we have any evidence that Neanderthals contracted Kuru? However, if they were eating brains it is quite possible.
- Zoshchenko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2There are some other very interesting articles linked to this one....like the fact that Neanderthals were 99.5% human....hmmmmm.....tasty!
- diggndigg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Neanderthals were another species of Human. I wonder how this fits into the religious explanation.
- Dested, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5They seem to be missing that book.... well, that one and Dinasouricus.
- ChillHomie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7As I recall, the creator of the theory of evolution was Catholic... You don't have to deny science to have a religion.
- diggndigg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Must be one of the books hidden in the basement of the Vatican. Along with all the other suppressed documents.
- mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4Humans are not directly decended from Neandertals and Neandertals are NOT another type of Human. We have similar ancestors, but the Neandertal is more closely related to the Chimpanzee than to Humans. Neandertals died out about 30,000 years ago as a result of competition with ***** Sapiens.
- mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@chillHomie
Agreed...as an anthropologist, I have learned not to deny religion based upon evolution...they are not in opposition to one another. Evolution merely explains how things came about, it does not explain why, or if there was a who behind what came about. That is a matter of faith one way or the other. - nitsuj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"We have similar ancestors, but the Neandertal is more closely related to the Chimpanzee than to Humans. Neandertals died out about 30,000 years ago as a result of competition with ***** Sapiens."
Of course we are not descended from Neanderthals. We share a common ancestor. I seriously doubt your claim about Neanderthals being closer to Chimpanzee's though. Neanderthals wore clothes and used tools. There's even some evidence for primitive artistry and caring for their injured/disabled. And of course they were also bipedal and had large brains.
How they became extinct is also hotly debated. - mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@nitsuj
http://health.theledger.com/article/20061101/TOPSTORY/2383/-1/RSS2&source=RSS - diggndigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ mrhaines
You are mistaken. Neanderthals stood erect and were fully bipedal like modern man not as chimpanzees. Neanderthal's cranial size and brain size is very close to a modern man's and much larger than a chimp. Their bodies were less hairy too, like modern man. They had linguistics and hunted in groups as modern man does. They could make tools from stones for cutting and hunting, like modern man. They clothed themselves like modern man. They created pendants and other craft works to suggest a rudimentary artwork. Chips do not do that. Neanderthals even buried their dead. Neanderthals are classified as ***** sapiens neanderthalensis, a subspecies of humans or ***** neanderthalensis another species of human. - diggndigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
Better information in these links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
http://sapphire.indstate.edu/~ramanank/ - marinist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ mrhaines
You are correct: Despite morphological similarities, Neanderthals are a line that developed and died off independently of H. sapiens. I work in anthropology publishing and what you wrote are the latest views on the matter, which is summed up well at Wikipedia:
"For many years, professionals vigorously debated about whether Neanderthals should be classified as ***** neanderthalensis or as ***** sapiens neanderthalensis, the latter placing Neanderthals as a subspecies of ***** sapiens. However, recent evidence from mitochondrial DNA studies have been interpreted as evidence that Neanderthals were not a subspecies of H. sapiens." - krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -0/+1first fundamentalists. now vegans and peta cultists? can someone find some proof of evolution destroying the preachings of astroturfing corporations, or lets not aim too high... i'd settle for taking out cookie cutter musicians.
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I bet people taste like chicken.
- diggndigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14If I had to guess, people probably taste like pork.
- ProximaC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The cannibal tribes called people "Long Pork" if that tells you anything.
- RedNeckerson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you smoke the meat with hickory wood, people taste like bacon...........I'm told.
- vyking, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The title in the article is poorly worded (Not the fault of the Digg submitter). It should state- "Evidence Shows that some Neanderthals were Cannibals"
If you found a modern human that had the same evidence would the title state "Humans are Cannibals"...- marklj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1agreed. These submitters only care about getting as many blind diggs as possible.
"WTF? Those monkey-lookin dudes ate each other? Frikkin sick man! DIGG!!"
- marklj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1agreed. These submitters only care about getting as many blind diggs as possible.
- ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6"Baby. The other, other white meat."
- ubuwalker31, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I thought that was some sort of sick pick up line at first...then I realized it wasn't a pickup line, just sick!
- Conwaysb0718, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1dugg back up for Fat Bastard ref.
- mrhaines, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Another example of anthropologists making large generalizations based upon small amounts of evidence. Just because one small group of individuals had cannibalistic tendencies doesn't say anything about the species as a whole.
"According to Rosas, there is evidence of cannibalism in Neanderthal remains from other European sites.
"I would say this practice… was general among Neanderthal populations," he said"
GENERALIZED?!?! What a bunch of crock...this is like saying: "A man found evidence of heart disease in 10 people in Northern Sweden therefore it is my opinion that it is a widespread epidemic Northern Sweden".
It is frustrating when anthropologists blow out of proportion their discoveries just to make their research seem more significant. They need to learn to be more responsible with their field of study...one of the reasons why physical anthropology has become so political.- shakin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1mrhaines, if you took twelve random people from Northern Sweden and ten of them had heart disease, and there was little other evidence to go by, one could indeed deduce that Northern Sweden had a major heart disease epidemic. It may be a wrong deduction, but it's the best one based on the available evidence.
Evidence of cannibalism has been found among many Neanderthal tribes in many locations, so it's a reasonable deduction that cannibalism was quite widespread. Maybe one day we will uncover evidence to the contrary.
- shakin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1mrhaines, if you took twelve random people from Northern Sweden and ten of them had heart disease, and there was little other evidence to go by, one could indeed deduce that Northern Sweden had a major heart disease epidemic. It may be a wrong deduction, but it's the best one based on the available evidence.
- pants428, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5So did they eat each other with Fava beans and a nice Chianti?
- selrahc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Gotta love how finding a few Neanderthals who were cannibals is almost scientific fact that all of them were. Yet, I bet that if I say all Puerto Ricans eat steak and rice because my girlfriend's family does... well then I'm stereotyping.
- johnroth, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Whats so new about this, I eat my girlfriend all the time.
- digitalrift, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1cannabalism: not just for the forsaken anymore.
- foxhaze, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3That study was so simple, even a caveman could do it.
- kolobcreek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Maybe that explains why our ancestors killed them off.
- bitswapper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5How do they know it wasn't modern humans eating them?
- atdigg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1it's before modern people appeared in the area.
- skitzovision, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0If i had to eat a human I would go for the tender baby meat as opposed to the meat of someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he would be all tough and stringy. I'd like to try some Angelina Jolie jerky. Humans have lots of parts that look like "good eatin'" look at the palm of your hand, then look over to your thumb. Looks just like a drumstick. MMMM
- noxdineen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@atdigg: ***** neanderthalis and ***** sapiens sapiens co-existed for a period of time. There's actually one theory that rather than going extinct, Neanderthals interbred with European ***** sapiens until they were no longer a distinct species; which could explain the difference in Caucasian facial and some cranial features vs other ethnic groups. (Personally, I like the theory although I wasn't totally swayed by the evidence mustered in its defence.)
As for human cannibalism, it absolutely did and does happen. But a lot of the cannibalism that was reported in early ethnographic literature can be traced to misunderstanding and failure on the anthropologist's part to interpret information within the correct cultural context.
Consider this: explain the Eucharist to an anthropologist from another culture. Improperly interpreted, we're engaging in cannibalism. Very few of the ethnographers who reported cannibalism actually witnessed it, they simply drew conclusions from information given to them across linguistic and cultural barriers. (There is also the issue of informants lying to anthropologists, which bit poor Margaret Mead in the ass pretty severely.) - JAGUART, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Yet another reason the Cro-Magnons teased the hell out of them, until they all died.
- Conwaysb0718, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Were I in an "Alive" circumstance, I would have no "beef" eating another person.
- Punisher2K, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm starvin. Hey Earl, do we have any caveman back there?
- sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Let the Geico commercials start in 3... 2... 1... ***
- WomunOfColour, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1digg needs the capability to delete comments
- kambiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wouldn't say this is definitive enough to call it cannibalism. This is a shameless plug, but I posted about this before the item got dugg and I wrote in my blog that cut marks on bone merely mean the body was processed by other humans. If the bones were broken and burnt in a manner that looks like the others tried to get at marrow or cook the bones, well we have something. But so far the only image is of cut marks on a jaw bone. Furthermore these are just 8 individuals from 1 cave, what if this was an isolated occurrence... does that mean all Neandertals were cannibals?
- Lifeprong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I would say this practice… was general among Neanderthal populations"
On the basis of evidence from only one Neanderthal population? - TechScribe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Timothy...Timothy
Where on Earth did you go? - Deadboy42069, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hold on. wait!! don't say anything yet....Let me ask the Geico Neanderthal Caveman..
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Nevermind. He's mad
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