Upper Palaeolithic ritualistic cannibalism at Gough's Cave (Somerset, UK): The human remains from head to toe

The Sima de los Huesos Crania: Analysis of the cranial breakage patterns

“…There are taphonomic studies on anthropic modification in contexts of cannibalism, e.g., Gran Dolina TD-6 (Atapuerca, Spain) hominin remains (Saladi e et al, 2011(Saladi e et al, , 2012, Moula-Guercy (France) (Defleur et al, 1999), Gough's cave (Somerset, UK) (Bello et al, 2011(Bello et al, , 2015, El Mirador (Atapuerca, Spain) (C aceres et al, 2007), Herxheim (Germany) (Boulestin and Coupey, 2015), and others (Boulestin, 2012). There are also some papers regarding carnivore activity on fossil crania (Arsuaga et al, 2007;Boaz et al, 2004;Sala et al, 2014).…”

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

“…Defleur et al, 1993;Rosas et al, 2006), in Upper Palaeolithic (e.g. Bello et al, 2015) and Mesolithic contexts (e.g. Boulestin, 1999;Gray Jones, 2011) in Northern Europe, and in more recent prehistoric times (e.g.…”

Assessing the calorific significance of episodes of human cannibalism in the Palaeolithic

“…Additional support for the possible widespread nature of prehistoric cannibalism comes from genetic studies of global patterns of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs)8, which imply that prehistoric TSE polymorphisms were a routine feature of hominin life. Mead et al ., for example, propose that the repeated exposure of hominins to the effects of TSEs (such as Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) resulting from cannibalistic activities, drove the polymorphism adaptation as a selective advantage within prehistoric populations89. These authors argue that such an adaptation would only be necessary if exposure to the neurodegenerative diseases (through the consumption of infected flesh) was a common feature in prehistoric hominin lifeways.…”

“…For example, while varied practices of consumption have been identified amongst Neanderthal populations from Moula-Guercy (France)14, Cueva del Sidrón (Spain)15, Cueva del Boquete de Zafarraya (Spain)16, Padrelles (France)1718, and Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium)11, all are broadly interpreted as nutritional. A small number of studies also invoke ritual motivations to, for example, the Upper Palaeolithic episodes of cannibalism associated with Homo sapiens at Gough’s Cave (UK)91019 and, less certainly, at the potential Homo erectus site of Caune de l’Argo (France)520. Some sites, such as Krapina (Croatia), Brillenhöhle (Germany) and Monte Cicero (Italy), have served as useful cautionary tales, with initial behavioural interpretations of cannibalism being overturned once additional analyses were carried out on the hominin remains21222324 (although the cases of Krapina and Brillenhöhle remain controversial in that they may well now be cannibalism sites2526).…”

“…Investigations at Atapuerca613 and Gough’s Cave9 have demonstrated how Palaeolithic cannibalism interpretations can be extended beyond the broad labels of ‘nutritional’ or ‘ritual’ based on the series of cannibalistic signatures stated above. Indeed, these labels may be seen as somewhat ambiguous given that all types of cannibalism involve feeding on the tissues of individuals of the same species and are therefore inherently ‘nutritional’, regardless of secondary emotive drivers such as ceremony or ritual5.…”