Spanish paleontologists have made an unusual find: they managed to find the remains of a family of 12 Neanderthals killed about 49,000 years ago
The characteristic marks on the bones of the Neanderthals indicate that they were killed and then eaten. Moreover, scientists believe that the murder lies on the conscience of the fellow tribesmen of the Neanderthals themselves, and not of any wild animal.
An article describing the find was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and BBC News writes about it briefly.
Scientists worked in a cave in the Spanish province of Asturias, where they found the bones of six adult Neanderthals, three adolescents, two young children and one infant. All the bones found show traces of the use of tools with which the cannibals, in particular, took out the bone marrow. Researchers believe that the entire Homo neanderthalensis family was killed and eaten by their relatives.
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (DNA that is contained in cellular organelles called mitochondria and is inherited from mother to daughter) revealed that all adult Neanderthal men are maternal relatives, and all women are not genetically related to each other, or with men. This fact confirms the hypothesis that H. neanderthalensis was chosen for mating representatives of other groups of Neanderthals, while after growing up they themselves remained in the same group where they were born.
Recently, another team of researchers, also working in Spain, presented evidence that not only Neanderthals, but also other species of people ate their relatives. Even earlier, evidence was found that representatives of Homo sapiens killed the Helineanderthals.
