How Neanderthals met a grisly fate: devoured by humans

[steven johnson]

My opinion has always been that homo sapiens had a direct conflict with homo nethanderalis. This researcher presents evidence supporting this.

A fossil discovery bears marks of butchering similar to those made when cutting up a deer

The controversial suggestion follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans. Now the leader of the research team says he believes the flesh had been eaten by humans, while its teeth may have been used to make a necklace.

Fernando Rozzi, of Paris's Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique, said the jawbone had probably been cut into to remove flesh, including the tongue. Crucially, the butchery was similar to that used by humans to cut up deer carcass in the early Stone Age. "Neanderthals met a violent end at our hands and in some cases we ate them," Rozzi said.

Rozzi believes the jawbone provides crucial evidence that humans attacked Neanderthals, and sometimes killed them, bringing back their bodies to caves to eat or to use their skulls or teeth as trophies.
"For years, people have tried to hide away from the evidence of cannibalism, but I think we have to accept it took place," he added.


How Neanderthals met a grisly fate: devoured by humans

[UndertheOcean]

1. heart warming !

Nature is ugly and predatory.

[Tunkamerica]

2. Is it cannabalism?

[havocmom]

3. more specifically, does that mean our ancestors might have had prion disease?

Cousins, it's what's for dinner? Eeeewwwwwwwww.

[Warpy]

4. Yeah? It probably went both ways when food was scarce

and it could even have been ritual cannibalism, something well known in our species although with often horrific health consequences and most probably known in theirs.

I'll wait to see what the genome project turns up. We know that physically they were more like us than chimps are. There could conceivably have been interbreeding as well as cannibalism.

[Kali]

6. latest I read was not finding the genetic evidence for interbreeding

I believe it was in an issue or two back of Science News, and I just hauled off my newspaper/magazine pile to the dump so I can't go look.

[Warpy]

8. Right, all they have is fragmentary DNA

and they haven't had a lot of success as yet.

[Double T]

5. Yep. Homo sapiens have driven many other species to extinction..........

while also destroying the land, air and sea environments of its own world. Humans are truly the most arrogant, horrible creatures that have ever resided on this planet.

[Kali]

7. yeah weve done nothing positive whatsoever

not even anything morally neutral:eyes:

[Double T]

10. When a species exists with total disregard for all other living creatures...........

and continues to repeat the same actions and routines that have and are destroying the environments of this planet, there is certainly nothing positive about that. Denial of what we are is the very thing that perpetuates the destruction of other species and decline of this planet's environments.

[qazplm]

13. right

because the elephant unselfishly limits how much vegetation it eats a day, the rat and the rabbit wouldnt procreate in unsustainable numbers if they had the chance...

What world do you live in? Every single animal in this world would destroy a part of their environment through overbreeding or overfeeding if there weren't some other natural break stopping them. No different than humans. The only differences between us and animals is that 1. there is no natural break for us because we have evolved past that and 2. we actually DO, sometimes, attempt to minimize the damage we cause.

The whole humans suck, nature is benign shtick is both ridiculous and very very old.

[Double T]

17. Humans talk about minimizing the damage they cause while actually doing the exact opposite.

Cheap talk and denial can attempt to create a perception while the human destruction of other species and the decline of environments continues.

[qazplm]

19. humans do both

but in your black-white, humans bad, everything else good world you'd probably miss that.

[oldleftguy]

9. Sounds like my in-laws

[Christa]

11. Law of the jungle

and the survival of the fittest ...

[soothsayer]

12. early origins of eating the body and blood of Christ?

[mikekohr]

14. "Modern Man" appears in Europe and Neanderthals disappear, Modern Man appears in the Canary Islands

and the Canary People disappear. "Modern Man" appears in the Western Hemisphere and Native Americans all but disappear.

I detect a pattern.

mike kohr

[centristgrandpa]

15. mod-man

It's not always about the strongest, it's about adaptation. I read an interesting article about why the "Neanderthals" disappeared, it was about their inability to communicate using language. According to the findings, they could only grunt.

[Kali]

16. um, those are all "modern"

[Phoonzang]

18. So? They ate each other too.

That's nature for you.

[xchrom]

20. well we certainly weren't shy about eating each other.

so why not?