Some Neanderthals definitely ate their dead

A museum model of a Neanderthal ancester

(Image credit: Eric Cabanis/Getty Images)

published 9 July 2016

Neanderthals were sometimes the meal at their own funerals, scientists report after examining bones found in a Belgian cave which date from between 40,500 and 45,500 years ago.

The remains show "unambiguous evidence" of cannibalism, including the marks of tools used to break them to access the marrow inside, as well as signs that the rib cages were cracked open to reach internal organs. Together, the bones form the skeletons of four adults and one child.

Though previous discoveries have suggested cannibalism in more southern European Neanderthal populations, evidence of Neanderthal burial practices has been considered an indication of their relative emotional and cultural sophistication. The researchers did not attempt to explain in their Scientific Reports article why this cannibalism occurred or whether it was universal among Neanderthal populations, though they did note that some of the bones appear to have been used as tools after they were stripped of flesh.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.