Ancient humans dwell in southern England towards the goal of the last ice age made human skulls into drunkenness vessels . We do n’t have a go at it , however , if this was a elbow room of revering fall back loved one , or glorifying in the licking of enemies .
Uncomfortable as it may be to admit , cannibalism was a widespread practice session through human chronicle . Its meaning has alter ; for some , it was considered an act ofvenerationfor the departedand for others it was a form oftriumphalism over enemy . Either way , dead human race make a protein - rich increase to the dieting , although the monetary value can be gamy through thetransmission of disease such as Kuru .
Many culture also make a ritual out of the wasting disease of other human beings , and grounds has emerged from Gough ’s Cave , Somerset , that this practice has inscrutable root . Dr. Silvia Bello of the London Natural History Museum notice evidence that 14,700 - year - old human skull were shaped to drink from .
The limestone cave has a foresighted history , not just as a site of human occupation , but as a internet site of field . pick up in thelate 19th century , it hosts the oldest post - ice age grounds of human habitation in Britain , suggesting homo migrated from Spain and France almost as soon as the Methedrine retreated . Since there was still aland bridge across what is now the English Channel , they would not have require boat to make the journey .
Bones from half a 12 the great unwashed and many brute were found jumbled together in the cave . Many were removed in a haphazard fashion so the cave could be used as a tourer magnet . Nevertheless , the human end , including skulls , are in good enough precondition to be quality inquiry subject .
The cannibal connectedness for the Gough ’s Cave bones has been made before , with Bello having been part of a squad that establish flesh wasbutchered from the cave ’s human finger cymbals in the same mode as that of brute .
" The man remains have been the subject of several studies , ” enunciate Bello . “ In a former depth psychology , we could watch that the cranial remains had been carefully modified to make skull - cups . During this enquiry , however , we ’ve identified a far outstanding level of human alteration than recorded in former research . We ’ve retrieve indubitable grounds for defleshing , disarticulation , human chewing , crushing of squishy ivory , and the cracking of osseous tissue to extract marrow . "
In finicky , Belloreports in theJournal of Human Evolution , signs of human teeth marks on many of the non - skull os , which the paper calls , “ incontrovertible evidence for cannibalism . ” The treatment of the bones was similar enough to that found at other situation of theMagdalenian culturein central and western Europe that Bello concludes cannibalism was far-flung throughout Europe at the clip , rather than being a specific version to living so tight to the retreating ice sheets .
