Funerary practices or food delicatessen? Human remains with anthropic marks from the Western Mediterranean Mesolithic

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe identification of unarticulated human remains with anthropic marks in archaeological contexts normally involves solving two issues: a general one associated with the analysis and description of the anthropic manipulation marks, and another with regard to the interpretation of their purpose. In this paper we present new evidence of anthropophagic behaviour amongst hunter-gatherer groups of the Mediterranean Mesolithic. A total of 30 human remains with anthropic manipulation marks have been found in the Mesolithic layers of Coves de Santa Maira (Castell de Castells, Alicante, Spain), dating from ca. 10.2-9 cal ky BP. We describe the different marks identified on both human and faunal remains at the site (lithic, tooth, percussion and fire marks on bone cortex). As well as describing these marks, and considering that both human and faunal remains at the site present similar depositional and taphonomic features, this paper also contextualizes them within the archaeological context and subsistence patterns described for Mesolithic groups in the region. We cannot entirely rule out the possibility that these practices may be the result of periodic food stress suffered by the human populations. These anthropophagic events at the site coincide with a cultural change at the regional Epipalaeolithic-Mesolithic transition.

Aggressive or funerary cannibalism? Skull‐cup and human bone manipulation in Cueva de El Toro (Early Neolithic, southern Iberia)

“…We also found scraping marks on skull fragments. These marks showed features common on fresh bones soon after death (Andrews & Cook, ; Behrensmeyer, Gordon, & Yanagi, ; Bello & Soligo, ; Bello et al, ; Boulestin, ; Greenfield, ; Morales Pérez et al, ). Percussion damage was present in 14 of 101 specimens (13.8%; MNE = 7), including human‐induced fractures on fresh bone, percussion pits, lunate scars, adhering flakes and anvil striations on cranial and postcranial bones.…”

Enamel hypoplasia in a Mesolithic (5900±100 BC) individual from Woźna Wieś (Poland): a case study

“…But we are not able to exclude another hypothesis that the environmental conditions were unfavorable. The idea that hunter-gatherer societies experience more frequent famine than societies with other modes of subsistence is pervasive in the bioarchaeological literature (e.g., Jankauskas 1994, Morales-Pérez et al 2017. This means that in the described case, the individual from Woźna Wieś was "strong" enough to survive unfavorable conditions, and the trace of environmen-some dental material from the Mesolithic period from Central and Eastern Europe, or it is at a low level.…”

Cordage, basketry and containers at the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary in southwest Europe. Evidence from Coves de Santa Maira (Valencian region, Spain)

“…More than 30 human remains from at least three individuals have been identified from this unit, scattered and mixed with the faunal remains. Their study has led to the identification of cannibalism (Morales-Pérez et al 2017). The data obtained show a change in the use of the cave, in technology and economy and also a difference in the mobility of human groups between the Mesolithic unit (SM-3) and those of the late Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic (SM-5 and SM-4).…”