The Book Of THoTH

"The beginnings of cannibalism is shrouded in the mists of time and more than likely we will never find out it's origins nor understand why some species, including humans, eat their own kind.

Many anthropologists speculate that cannibalism began in the very earliest beginnings of known human history, probably even before any records of human history were ever made, and grew with man's unending need to appease whatever gods were worshipped, to survive famine and stave off starvation, or any of a number of other theories that have been presented by various and sundry scientists. Archaeological evidence seems to show that cannibalism has been practiced at least as far back as the Neolithic Period and Bronze Age in the areas that eventually became known as Europe and North and South America.

In a book called Once Were Cannibals, the author Tim White stated that there was evidence found in Croatia that seemed to show that the indigenous Neanderthal tribes of the age practiced cannibalism. Many bones of Neanderthals discovered during an archaeological excavation apparently showed some evidence that this particular tribe of Neanderthals ate the brains of others of their kind. In Cannibalism and Archeology, the author gives some of the criteria archaeologists use to identify evidence of cannibalism from human remains found. These "earmarks" include skulls showing hammering to expose the brain, severe facial mutilation, burnt or boiled bones, dismemberment, cut marks, bone breakage made by hammer stones, etc. Even though not all of the criteria was met when studying the bones archaeologists discovered in Croatia, main of the most crucial "earmarks" pointing to the practice of cannibalism were present, including crushed skulls and bones, fire damage showing evidence that these bodies had been roasted over a fire and skulls hammered open in order to remove the brain."
http://www.profilingtheunexplained.com/mysterious_happenings/mysteries_of_cannibalism.html
I wrote this article and I was looking for other cases and discission on this

Nice article! This has always been a fascinating subject for me. Thanks for posting!

Glad you liked it, Dawn

Hey Unexplained,

Welcome to Thoth.

I think Cannibalism has two components to it, one is the religion/spiritual side, and the second is survival, which is self explanitory and propably only happened in extreme examples.

I remember in college studying about a tribe that ate a small part of whomever died to take a part of them into themselves, so that their knowledge could be passed on to the next generation. Pregnant women got the largest share. The ironic part of this is that they became quite sick, and developed what we now call mad cow diesease.