Early Europeans may have eaten their enemies' brains, archaeologists say

CNN

12-02-2025

Ancient humans living in Europe may have scooped out the brains of their dead enemies and eaten them, a new study suggests.
In the study, published last week in the journal Scientific Reports,researchers examined the bones of at least 10 people from the Magdalenian culture who lived in Europe 11,000–17,000 years ago.
Using imaging techniques, the team of researchers from institutes in France, Spain and Poland identified types of marks and cuts 'associated with the removal of themarrow in the long bones and the brain in the skulls.'
Multiple other studies have shown that cannibalism was relatively commonamong Magdalenian people, both as a funerary rite and as a form of violence.
But this specific instance 'was a case of warfare,' FrancescMarginedas, the co-lead author of the study, argues, because there was 'no kind ofspecial treatment compared to other Magdalenian sites,' nor the presence ofskull cups, 'which is related to the ritualization of the bodies.'
Marginedas, an archaeologist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecologyand Social Evolution in Spain, was part of a team studying the bones depositedin Maszycka Cave, near Kraków, Poland – a well-known prehistoric site thathas been extensively studied for decades.
During that time, different theories have emerged to explain whythe ancient Magdalenians cut open the skulls of dead bodies.
While a study in the 1990s concluded that these ancient humans consumed thebrains of their enemies, later studies highlighted a lack of human tooth markson the skulls, undermining the cannibalism hypothesis.
For Marginedas, however, all the evidence 'makes us think that it's somethingmore related to violence and conflict rather than a funeral ritual,' he told CNNon Tuesday.
He and his team used electron microscopes to study the bones, identifying marksand cuts on 68% of them and demonstrating that they were made by humansrather than by natural processes.
The bones belonged to at least 10 individuals – six adults and fourjuveniles – who may have been related to each other, Marginedas said, adding thatfurther DNA analysis is needed to confirm that.
Since they died so long ago, 'it's very difficult to say 100% that it's a case ofwarfare cannibalism,' he said.
'During the taphonomic analysis (study of the processes undergone by organic matter after death) of the surface of the whole bones to find anykind of marks that can tell us some story about what happened, we identifiedthat … the bones from the arms and the legs, they were butchered and broken… to extract and consume the marrow.'
Bill Schutt, a zoologist and author of 'Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History,' who was not involved in the study, told CNN that 'this is a very well-written paper' and 'a really good study.'
He cautioned, however, against reaching definitive conclusions that this is an example of cannibalism.
'There are alternative answers to this question of what happened back then,' he said, explaining that we don't know enough about Magdalenian culture to say that they were cannibals.
'Who knows what these people were doing? Did they believe it was respectful to smash up the skulls of the dead or deflesh them?' said Schutt. 'There are cultures where bodies are defleshed as part of funerary rites.'
CNN's Jack Guy contributed to this report.