Fossil reveals human ancestors butchered one another for reasons beyond ritual

[Judi Lynn]

By Katie Hunt, CNN
Updated 5:03 PM EDT, Mon June 26, 2023



Shown here is a view of the fossilized shin bone, left, and the magnified area, right, that reveals cut marks.

Jennifer Clark

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CNN
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Nine cut marks on a fossilized shin bone suggest that ancient human relatives butchered and possibly ate one another 1.45 million years ago, according to a new study.

The fossilized tibia was found in the collection of National Museums of Kenya’s Nairobi National Museum by Briana Pobiner, a paleoanthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.

Pobiner was studying the collection, looking for bite marks from extinct animals that might have preyed on ancient hominins, when she came across cuts that looked like they had been made by stone tools.

“These cut marks look very similar to what I’ve seen on animal fossils that were being processed for consumption,” Pobiner said in a news release.

“It seems most likely that the meat from this leg was eaten and that it was eaten for nutrition as opposed to for a ritual.”

More:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/26/world/fossilized-bone-may-reveal-ancient-cannibalism-scn/index.html