Photos from the excavation site.
On the site of an ancient Germanic settlement, which is 7 thousand years old, archaeologists have discovered the remains of almost 500 human bodies that have become victims of cannibals. Among them were children and even embryos. Writes about this in the December issue of Antiquity magazine
Cannibal rituals were performed at the site of an ancient settlement called Herzheim (located in the territory of modern southern Germany), where slaves, prisoners of war and other victims were brought. According to the study's authors - anthropologists from the University of Bordeaux in France, cruel manners were explained by the social and political crisis in central Europe during the Neolithic. Study leader Bruno Bolestin told the BBC that he and his colleagues found signs that human bones were deliberately pricking and splitting, prompting scientists to think of cannibalism.
The researchers found that in a short period of time, hundreds of people were eaten in the settlement, who were treated no better than animals. The eaten bones were thrown into deep oval pits.
Excavations at the site of the Herzheim settlement were first carried out in 1996, but more detailed findings were examined between 2005 and 2008. However, not all archaeologists agree with the theory of cannibalism. For example, scientists from the University of Leipzig and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt am Main claim that the reburial of the dead took place in Herzheim, during which bodies were cut into pieces and the flesh was separated from bones. Similar rituals have existed in many ancient civilizations.
The reburial hypothesis is supported by the fact that the lower jaw is missing on the skulls. The ritual required that she be separated from the skull and buried separately.
However, Bolestin argues that the remains that were found testify precisely to cannibalism. In particular, the deliberately broken phalanges of the fingers and toes were gnawed, the ribs were broken off from the spine, obviously using a special technique, and scratches and cuts on the jaws indicated that the tongue was cut out from the victims.
The scientist believes that 7 thousand years ago in Europe there were supposedly three settlements where cannibals lived. With a greater or lesser degree of certainty, cannibalism has been proven only in an ancient cave in the south of France. Gnawed bones were found there, which are 6 thousand years old. A 1986 study found that at least six people and animals were killed and eaten in the cave.
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But nevertheless, cannibalism, according to scientists, was a rarity in those days: the population was everywhere engaged in agriculture.