Stone Age family may have been cannibalized for ‘ultimate elimination’ 5,600 years ago, study suggests

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comAugust 7, 2025

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Stone Age family may have been cannibalized for ‘ultimate elimination’ 5,600 years ago, study suggests

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A Neolithic family has been massacred, skinned, refined, cooked and eaten in a cave on the Iberian peninsula 5,600 years ago, suggests a new study.

Researchers found evidence that at least 11 people, including adults, adolescents and children, may have been victims of war cannibalism during a bloody event in the Cave of El Mirador, in northern Spain.

The bones found in the cave had cut marks, marks of human bite, fractures for the extraction of the marrow and the signs they had been boiled, according to the results of the researchers, published Thursday August 7 in the journal Scientific relationships.

The Gristly event occurred over a short period – perhaps in a few days – during the final phase of the Neolithic or new occupation, the occupation of the cave, when agriculture and agriculture have become more widespread in the region. While researchers could only speculate that intergroup violence caused apparent cannibalisation, they found no sign of ritual or famine which could otherwise explain the event.

“It was neither a funeral tradition nor a response to the extreme famine”, co-author of the study Francesc MarginedasA researcher at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (Iphs) and the University of Rovira I Virgili in Spain, in a press release. “The evidence indicates a violent episode, given the speed with which all this took place – perhaps the result of a conflict between neighboring agricultural communities.”

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This is not the first time that researchers have been proof of cannibalization in El Mirador Cave. In the early 2000s, archaeologists discovered the remains of six individuals with brands similar to those of the new study. However, these remains were younger, from Early Bronze Age According to the study, around 4,600 to 4,100 years and unrelated to the hundreds of older bones discovered during subsequent excavations, according to the study.

Researchers Dated radiocarbon The bones of the new study between 5,709 and 5,573 years old, and a chemical analysis determined that they were local in the region and massacred over a short period. The victims went age under the age of 7 at more than 50 years and were probably a nuclear or extended family, according to the study.

A photograph of 37 fragments of human bones with signs of cannibalization.

The researchers found hundreds of bones with signs of cannibalization. (Image Credit: Iphones-Carca)

This new case of cannibalism potentially focused on conflicts aligns with the evidence of generalized inter-group violence in the Neolithic. The researchers noted that this period was marked by conflicts and instability Europe has gone from food has agriculture.

“Conflicts and the development of strategies to manage and prevent it are part of human nature”, co-author of the study Antonio Rodríguez-HidalgoAn archaeologist at the Institute of Archeology – Mérida and affiliated researcher at Iphs, said in the press release. “Ethnographic and archaeological files show that even in less stratified and small -scale societies, violent episodes can occur in which enemies could be consumed as a form of ultimate elimination.”