Re: Evidence Of Cannibalism At Krapina Neandertal Site
- From: "Ed Stasiak" <estasiak@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 8 May 2005 13:17:36 -0700
> pete wrote
> > Ed Stasiak wrote
> >
> > If this was the reason and not cannibalism, then what
> > was done with all the meat removed from the bones?
>
> Medieval Christians boiled the flesh off of their saints
> and saved the bones. What was done with all the meat
> removed from the bones?
Burned I suppose, but how many saints were there to
subject to this practice? It wasn't an everyday thing
and was done so that the bones could be displayed.
For the Neanderthals it seems like a lot work for little
if any gain if they weren't eating the meat, especially
when they were just burying the bones anyways and animals
would have no problem smelling those out (if the point was
to prevent scavenging).
If the practice of de-fleshing the corpse was wide spread
among the Neanderthals then the most likely explanation
seems to be cannibalism, thou perhaps only in a religious
context; i.e. eating the dead so that their spirit lived
on with the group.
On the other hand, where the bones buried? If they were
buried in the same cave that was occupied by the living,
then maybe it was done to prevent the smell of the rotting
body from making the cave unlivable?
.
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