Traces of cannibalism have been found on bones of Neanderthals from the Belgian caves of Goyet. Notches, dents and cutting marks indicate that these primordial Belgians were once filleted with stone tools. It was already known that Neanderthals sometimes ate a fellow human being, but it had not been seen before in Northern Europe. There are – of course – objections.
Cannibals used to live in Belgium. The Neanderthals who lived more than forty thousand years ago in the caves of Goyet, close to Namur, feasted on their fellow man.
That is what a group of American and European scientists concluded from an analysis of the bones from this cave. The cave dwellers cut the meat from the bones with their stone knives, sucked the marrow from the bones, and perhaps gnawed at the phalanges of their peers.
Bones
It is not the first time that Neanderthals have been caught cannibalism. Cases have already been reported from Croatia, Spain and France. However, no evidence for this had been found before in Northern Europe. But now it is:the bones contain deep scratches and pits, which indicate that they have been cut and pounded with stone tools. The researchers also saw chewing marks, although they could not say for sure whether they were from humans or animals.
The bones have apparently been stripped of their flesh, the scientists wrote in an article published yesterday in Scientific Reports. The same type of cut marks were found on remains of prey animals such as horses and reindeer from the same site, confirming that the carcasses were filleted. Some human bones have subsequently been used as tools, the researchers further concluded. The Neanderthals used it to work their flint tools.
Raw
It is possible that the Neanderthals did not eat the meat, but that it was a ritual, the researchers write. But the simplest explanation is that it was a meal – especially because the nutrient-rich lower and upper legs show the most cutting marks.
Anthropologist Hélène Rougier of California State University Northridge in the US is the lead author of the scientific paper. “We don't know whether these people were stripped of their flesh after a natural death or were killed especially for it,” she answers questions from Kennislink. “The cause of death cannot be determined from the bone remains.”
Although it cannot be ruled out one hundred percent that the cave dwellers cooked or roasted human flesh, they probably ate their congeners raw. After all, if the meat had softened, they wouldn't have had to lash out so hard with their stone knives. In addition, during the research it appeared that the DNA in the bones was still intact, which probably would not have been the case after strong heating.
Comment
Archaeologist Marcel Niekus of the Stone Age Research Foundation in the Netherlands (STONE) in Groningen, who specializes in Neanderthals from the north of the Netherlands and is not involved in Belgian research, is not convinced that Neanderthals ate each other. “Except perhaps in times of food scarcity,” he says.
“But why could there be only cannibalism or ritual? Couldn't all those cuts, nicks, and scuffs be the result of making the tools of human bones?” Quite a lot of Neanderthal bone tools are known, says Niekus. The human bones from Goyet were used to retouch (post-process) flint tools. “And long bones were especially suitable for that.”
It is not known whether there were food shortages when the cadavers were filleted, says Rougier. "We found many horses and reindeer in the cave, but we don't know if they lived at the exact same time as these people." Isotope research also showed that these Neanderthals regularly ate meat. Rougier:"But that doesn't rule out the fact that there was not enough to eat in some periods."