Shocking study: Europeans ate human flesh as a funerary ritual
A recent study shed light on the practice of consuming human flesh among European peoples thousands of years ago, revealing shocking facts.
The study revealed that eating human flesh was a funerary ritual in Europe around 15,000 years ago when people consumed their deceased as part of their culture.
Previously, researchers found human bones and skulls modified into cups in Gough’s Cave in England, but the study published in the “Quaternary Science Review” suggests that this was not a coincidence.
The study focused on the Magdalenian period at the end of the Old Stone Age, and experts at the National History Museum in London reviewed literature to identify 59 Magdalenian sites containing human remains.
Most of these sites were in France, with sites also found in Germany, Spain, Britain, Belgium, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Portugal.
Researchers found human remains with signs of chewing, skulls with cut marks, and other bones with patterns associated with marrow extraction, all indicating the practice of consuming human flesh.
The study also found evidence of mixing human remains with animal remains, and researchers stated that the manipulation of human remains and its repetition in sites in Northern and Western Europe suggest that consuming human flesh was a funerary practice.
