The scary secrets of the first Europeans. The earthquake archaeological evidence attesting a difficult practice to conceive today

Our ancestors had cannibalism in the blood. The shocking conclusion regarding the past of humanity was revealed by researchers in a true “cannibal village” for more than 15,0000 years.

Research in the Cave of Atapuerca PHOTO Wikipedia

The researchers revealed a disturbing history of the first people who lived on the territory of Europe. Our ancestors practiced unreserved cannibalism. In short, especially when they found a hard food, they ate their fellows. It is assumed that they were true hunters of people, warrior tribes that disputed the priority of the hunting territories and who consumed those killed. The new discoveries show a disturbing reality. Children between the ages of 2 and 10 were hunted, killed and eaten. Everything is proven by the many discoveries in the caves of Atapuerca, near Burgos, Spain.

A history of humanity told by the mysterious holes of the caves

The atapuerca archaeological site is located near the city of Burgos, in the autonomous community Castilla y León, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. The caves in Sierra de Atapuerca contain a rich fossil archive of the oldest human beings in Europe, almost a million years ago. The history of these communities extends to the emergence of agrarian communities. It is a living chronicle of the hunting tribes that have dominated the frozen and forest stretches of Europe from the glacial era to the dawn of civilization. Atapuerca's caves are an exceptional data reserve, whose scientific study provides priceless information about the appearance and life of these distant human ancestors.

The site covers 284,119 hectares and constitutes an exceptional scientific reserve. The oldest and most abundant evidence of humanity in Europe can be found in Sierra de Atapuerca. In addition, painted and engraved sequences were recorded on the fish walls, with geometric motifs, hunting scenes and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures.

Cannibalism, an earthquake practice at the dawn of humanity

Beyond the numerous aspects regarding daily life, the religious beliefs, the artistic capacity of the first human ancestors, the caves from Sierra de Atapuerca reveal a cruel reality of prehistory. The ancestor of today's man practicing cannibalism on a large scale. Nobody knows what it was really why Homo Precessor (the ancestor of the modern man) consumes his fellows. Some say that it was a ritual issue, by which the dead were eaten to “stay” within the community and to be still part of existence by merging with living individuals, others claim that it was a matter of life and death, cannibalism appearing during the hunger and change of the trails.

A research team in Spain only discovered in June this year a set of 10 human skeletons victims of cannibalism. “Many of these presenting cuts by discharge and intentional fractures, usually encountered on the bones of animals that have been eaten.”says Live Science. All the skeletons discovered at Atapuerca belong to Homo precessor, a species of archaic man, who has disappeared about 770,000 years ago and is considered both the ancestor of Homo Sapiens (today's man) and Neanderthal man.

In short, the oldest relative of today's Europeans. Returning to the evidence of cannibalism, in the Grand Dolina Cave were revealed over two dozen bones that have traces of cuts, disarcoming and consumption. That is, about 30% of the bones found in the cave so far have traces of cuts that suggest that these early people have been eaten. “U.The cuts of cuts on the bones do not appear isolated. Traces of human bites were identified on the bones, this is the clearest proof that the bodies found on the spot were really consumed“Says Palmira Saladie, the coordinator of the group of specialists who carried out research from Gran Dolina, in a statement for” Live Science “.

Children's eaters

The new discoveries, especially those in the summer of this year, indicate that the ancestors of modern man ate including children. Either they were hunted from other communities, being an easy prey, or they were members of the community sacrificed in difficult times for the tribe. Specifically, the specialists discovered the skeleton of a child between the ages of 2 and 5, beheaded and eaten. The remnants of the child were 850,000 years old. “This case is particularly striking, not only because of the age of the child, but also due to the precision of the traces of cuts. It is a direct proof that the child was processed like any other prey.”said Palmira Saladié, in a press release issued on July 24. The Gran Dolina cave has not been completely researched and the specialists are expecting to find earthquake evidence of these practices of our ancestors.

Cannibalism, a tradition respected along the generations

This custom of the first Europeans has been perpetuated along the generations. Evidence of cannibalism was also identified in the Neanderthal man. An important proof is the discoveries in the Goyet Cave (Belgium). Several bones belonging to the Neanderthal man, 45,000 years ago, present traces of scraping, cuts and cannibalism. “Almost one third of the Neanderthal specimens discovered bears traces of cuts. The locations of these cuts are observed on the upper limbs indicating disarticulations, but also on the lower limbs where there are signs of meat on the bones. A few cuts on the inner and outer surface of the ribs,”is shown in a scientific report published on “Nature”. In turn, Homo sapiens (ie the current human species) practice cannibalism. In 2009, Fernando Rozzi, from the National Scientific Research Center in Paris. report the discovery of a man's mandible of Neanderthal killed and most likely consumed by homo sapiens.

At Goghs Cave, from the cheddar gorge, the county of Sommerset, England, were discovered human bones bearing the traces of cannibalism. It is about Homo Sapiens communities for 17,000 years ago, belonging to the Magdalenian culture. Among the remains of those eaten by the other members of the community are the bones of a teenager, but also those of a three-year-old, a clear sign that the tradition of homo precessor (our direct ancestor) continued in the species that followed. “Many of the bones were chewed by people. The long bones and the ribs were broken to be extracted the marrow and fat. Other bones indicate cuts through which the soft tissue was meticulously distant,” It is specified on the official website of the Natural History Museum. Experts say that in most cases it was a ritual cannibalism, in which either the dead were consumed, or the prisoners of the enemy tribes.