New evidence suggests that cannibalism existed among human ancestors over 1.45 million years ago. A paleoanthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, Briana Pobiner, discovered small marks on a fossilized shin bone that indicate hominins were eating other hominins. While two marks matched with big cat teeth, the other nine marks appeared to be made by a hand-wielded stone tool. This finding provides early evidence of cannibalism among human ancestors.Popular Science reports.
A release from Colorado State University confirms that the marks on the bone resemble those found on animal fossils that were processed for consumption. The marks are likely made by a stone tool, according to the paleoanthropologist Michael Pante. This finding of cut marks on an early Pleistocene hominin fossil provides significant evidence of cannibalism. The cuts appear to be where a calf muscle would have attached to the bone, indicating that the meat from this leg was consumed for nutrition, rather than for ritual purposes. CNN reports that this fossil reveals that cannibalism among human ancestors goes further back in time than previously recognized.
Chris Stringer, a research leader in human origins at London’s Natural History Museum, acknowledges the convincing evidence of cannibalism provided by this discovery. Similar marks have been found on a cheek bone from a 2 million-year-old hominin fossil, but their source is subject to debate. Although the specific species of the bone and the cuts cannot be definitively determined, Homo habilis, Australopithecus boisei, and Homo erectus were present in eastern Africa around 1.5 million years ago. Cannibalism requires the eater and the eaten to be of the same species, and this finding emphasizes the existence of cannibalistic behavior among early humans. (Read more cannibalism stories.)
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