1.45-Million-Year-Old Bone May Prove Cannibalism in Humans; Hominins Butchered, Consumed Their Kind

Cannibalism may be a thing in humans. According to a new report, a bone, reportedly millions of years ago, shows that hominins consume their kind.

Bones Could Probably Prove Cannibalism in Hominins

An ancient bone seemingly suggested that hominins consumed it. To determine what caused the incisions, a team led by paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner of the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution did a thorough 3D investigation of the injuries.

The research found that the traces were left by stone instruments that stripped the flesh to prepare it for consumption. According to Pobiner, their knowledge suggests that at least 1.45 million years ago, hominins were probably feeding one another, ScienceAlert reported.

Although there are many other instances of species in the human evolutionary tree devouring one another for food, the fossil implies that our species' ancestors were likely eating one another to survive far earlier than we realized.

Hominins occasionally become lunch for something with sharper teeth, despite a study from last year finding that during the past two million years, humans, our cousins, and ancestors held a pretty primo position on the food chain.

Not as frequently as you might think, so Pobiner looked for evidence of carnivory by examining old fossilized hominid bones. She discovered something surprising on one bone: from the Early Pleistocene epoch and dated 1.45 million years ago from the archaeological sites in Koobi Fora, Kenya.

She noticed what remarkably resembled purposeful slashes rather than the tooth traces of a lion-like creature. Contrary to popular belief, this has happened more often than not throughout the history of humans.

These cut marks are frequently ritualistic in origin and are made during the interment of the dead. Additionally, humans frequently fashioned ornamental items like combs, necklaces, and other jewelry out of other people's bones.

Sometimes, though, it's proof of something else - anthropophagy, the act of other humans eating human flesh, even though they may not be of the same species, so it's not technically cannibalism.

The existence of ancient anthropophagy is contested. In the lack of additional information, it is possible to mistake the reason why the bone was treated. However, several Pleistocene bones have undisputed cannibalistic or anthropophagic interpretations.

Per EurekAlert, the fossil could be proof of prehistoric cannibalism or a case of one species chowing down its evolutionary cousin.

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Human Bone Eaten For Consumption Not Ritual Purposes

Pobiner used dental molding material to produce a model of the bone and sent it to Colorado State University paleoanthropologist Michael Pante to see what he might make of the marks to identify the scars on the bone.

He scanned the mold and compared it to a database of 898 teeth, tramples, and cut marks assembled explicitly for this purpose throughout time and carefully developed during controlled experiments.

The outcomes were rather obvious. Pante discovered that nine out of the bone's eleven marks were unmistakably cut marks, compatible with the type of damage caused by stone tools. The other two were tooth prints resembling lion paw prints.

The cut marks look very similar to what she had seen on animal fossils that were being processed for consumption, Pobiner said. Additionally, she noted that the meat from the leg was eaten for nutrition instead of for a ritual.

The stud is published in Scientific Reports.