Human ancestors in Spain hunt and ATE one another to survive as they were ‘easier to catch than animals’
The human remains found showed 'unquestionable signs of cannibalism' like tooth marks and fractures
CANNIBAL human ancestors would kill and eat each other because it was 'more cost-effective' than catching animals, a new study claims.
Researchers found archaeological evidence in Spain that was said to show 'unquestionable signs of cannibalism' in an ancient human species called Homo antecessor and Neanderthals.
Analysis revealed that cannibalism was a good survival technique for the predecessors of Homo sapiens because they would have had to spend much less time and energy catching other humans than faster animals, despite animal flesh being more calorific.
The study claims that human flesh would have been just as nutritious for the primitive people.
The bones of seven individuals who showed evidence of being eaten by humans were found at the archaeological site of Gran Dolina in Spain.
Evidence of being eaten by humans includes tooth marks, cuts and and fractures made purposefully to expose bone marrow.
The human remains were found among nine other mammal species, including deer, and 22 individuals who had not been eaten.
Homo antecessor is one of the earliest known varieties of human discovered in Europe and lived there around one million years ago.
Lead author of the study Jesús Rodríguez said: "Our analyses show that Homo antecessor , like any predator, selected its prey following the principle of optimising the cost-benefit balance, and they also show that, considering only this balance, humans were a 'high-ranked' prey type.
"This means that, when compared with other prey, a lot of food could be obtained from humans at low cost."
The archaeologists also suggested that the cannibals may have eaten members of their own group when they died from other causes.
This research has been published in the .
Who were the Homo antecessors?
Here's what you need to know about this ancient species...
- Homo antecessor is one of the earliest known varieties of ancient human to have lived in Europe
- Evidence of them existing in Europe dates back to one million years ago
- They are believed to have been a similar height and build to humans now, standing between 5.5 and 6ft tall
- The species is thought to have been predominately right handed
- They may have had a symbolic language
- Their brains were slighly smaller than the average modern brain
- How Homo antecessor fits into the history of the human species is often under debate as some researchers think they are exactly the same species as Homo heidelbergensis, who also lived in Europe between 600,000 and 250,000 years ago
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What do you think of our cannibalistic ancestors? Let us know in the comments...
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