About 15,000 years ago in Gough's Cave, near Bristol in the UK, a group of people ate parts of each other.
They de-fleshed and disarticulated the bones, then chewed and crushed them. They may also have cracked the bones to extract the marrow inside.
It was not only adults that showed signs of being eaten. A three-year-old child and two adolescents all had the tell-tale marks of being nibbled on.
Some of their skulls were even modified into ornaments called "skull cups", which may have been used to drink out of.
What was going on in Gough's Cave? Was this an example of human violence between rivals, a strange kind of ritual behaviour, or simply a desperate bid for survival?
Article: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161011-the-people-who-ate-each-other
Archived: https://archive.fo/JeZdl
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161011-the-people-who-ate-each-other
(Score: 2) by weeds on Monday October 17 2016, @12:12PM
This: "Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder endemic to tribal regions of Papua New Guinea. It is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, caused by a prion found in humans." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease) [wikipedia.org] and other diseases might be a good reason to avoid it.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday October 17 2016, @01:33PM
No different to CJD and yet people still eat cows.
I very much doubt that such a disease is in such prevelance that it would stop you going near ANY part of body, or even specifically the brain if you're a prehistoric human who's unlikely to live until 30 or be able to put 2 and 2 together when it comes to eating brains and catching a disease months, or even years, later.
(Score: 2) by weeds on Monday October 17 2016, @02:14PM
Eating cows' brains, people, people brains - it's just to unpleasant to continue this dialog. You win.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Monday October 17 2016, @06:43PM
Remind me the URL of the site we're on.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 2) by weeds on Monday October 17 2016, @07:38PM
Ha!
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday October 18 2016, @08:40AM
Eating cows' brains, people, people brains
Braaains!!! [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by theluggage on Monday October 17 2016, @08:32PM
This: "Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder endemic to tribal regions of Papua New Guinea.
I did mention CJD (same sort of thing).
15k years ago, the risk was probably insignificant compared to the other ways your food could kill you (e.g. being unco-oporative about becoming your food). However, just goes to show that most modern religions are just helpful tips for food safety gone horribly wrong.