First Europeans were cannibals

The remains of the first Europeans discovered at an archaeological site in northern Spain have revealed that these prehistoric men were cannibals who particularly liked the flesh of children. We know that they practiced cannibalism, said Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, one of the co-directors of the Atapuerca project, a UNESCO world heritage site. A study of the remains revealed that they turned to cannibalism to feed themselves and not as part of a ritual, that they ate their rivals after killing them, mostly children and adolescents. It is the first well-documented case of cannibalism in the history of humanity, which does not mean that it is the oldest, he said. The remains discovered in the caves “appeared scattered, broken, fragmented, mixed with other animals, all kinds of animals caught in hunting” and eaten by humans, he said. This gives us an idea of cannibalism as a type gastronomy, and not as a ritual.