Early Cannibalism Tied to Territorial Defense?
An artist’s reconstruction of Homo antecessor, a hominid species that butchered and ate its own kind. A new study suggests the cannibalism was a form of territorial defense. Image: jlmaral/Flickr
The earliest known instance of cannibalism among hominids occurred roughly 800,000 years ago. The victims, mainly children, may have been eaten as part of a strategy to defend territories against neighbors, researchers report online in the Journal of Human Evolution. The new study shows how anthropologists use the behavior of modern humans and primates to make inferences about what hominids did in the past—and demonstrates the limitations of such comparisons.
The cannibalism in question was discovered in the Gran Dolina cave site of Spain’s Atapuerca Mountains. Eudald Carbonell of the University of Rovira and Virgili in Spain and colleagues found evidence of butchering on bones belonging to Homo antecessor, a controversial species that lived in Europe as early as 1.2 million years ago. Because no other hominid species has been found in the region at the same time as the butchered bones, the victims must have been eaten by their own kind, the team concluded in 2010 in the journal Current Anthropology (PDF).
Today, human cannibalism occurs in a variety of contexts: for nutritional value (often in times of starvation), as part of funerary rituals or during warfare. The different purposes of cannibalism can leave different patterns in the archaeological record. When humans consume other humans for purely dietary reasons, the victims are often treated just like any other prey. This is what the researchers found at Gran Dolina. Eleven individuals were butchered in a manner similar to that of deer and other mammals: Bones had cut marks in areas of muscle attachments and the skulls had signs of defleshing. Thus, H. antecessor appeared to eat its own kind for a nutritional purpose—but probably not because of a food shortage, as the team says there’s evidence of cannibalism over an extended period of time, dozens or even hundreds of years.
So why cannibalism? To find an answer, the researchers looked to chimpanzees. That’s because some aspects of H. antecessor cannibalism don’t resemble those of contemporary human cannibalism or cannibalism seen in Neanderthals or early modern humans living 100,000 years ago. For instance, nine of the 11 butchered individuals at Gran Dolina were children or adolescents compared with the largely adult victims of more recent human cannibalism.
Young victims is a pattern seen among chimpanzees. When female chimps range alone near the boundary of their territory, males from the neighboring group may kill and eat the females’ infants. Carbonell and his colleagues suggest the best explanation for this behavior is territorial defense and expansion. Males may attack to scare off other chimps as a way to protect their resources and gain new land to roam; such attacks are easiest against vulnerable females and their young, which make good meals. The team likewise concludes a similar explanation may have been the motivation behind H. antecessor cannibalism.
Whether this is a reasonable conclusion depends on some unanswered questions. For example, the researchers assume that the cannibalism was the result of intergroup violence and aggression, but they offer no evidence that the H. antecessor cannibals came from a different group than the victims. If they were all members of the same clan, then territorial defense doesn’t seem likely. It also seems unlikely if H. antecessor‘s social structure was vastly different from chimps—in which groups of probably related males band together to actively defend a territory while females in a community often forage alone with their infants.
It looks like the team has some more work to do.
Je, Ulaji wa Wanyama wa Kale Ulihusiana na Ulinzi wa Eneo? Mchoro wa msanii wa Homo antecessor, spishi ya hominidi ambayo iliua na kula aina yake mwenyewe. Utafiti mpya unaonyesha kwamba ulaji wa binadamu ulikuwa aina ya ulinzi wa eneo. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya ""Jargon: The History of Hominid Cannibalism,"" ""Kwanza kabisa, binadamu walianza kula nyama za wanadamu miaka 800,000 iliyopita." "Wanafunzi hao, ambao wengi wao ni watoto, huenda walikula nyama hiyo kama sehemu ya mpango wa kulinda maeneo yao dhidi ya majirani zao, ""wakili wa jarida la Journal of Human Evolution.""" Utafiti huo unaonyesha jinsi wananthropolojia wanavyotumia tabia ya wanadamu wa kisasa na primates kufanya inferences kuhusu nini hominids alifanya katika siku za nyuma - na inaonyesha mipaka ya kulinganisha kama hizo. Ulaji wa nyama ya binadamu uliokuwa ukizungumziwa uligunduliwa katika pango la Gran Dolina katika Milima ya Atapuerca ya Hispania. Eudald Carbone, wa Chuo Kikuu cha Rovira na Virgilio nchini Hispania, na wenzake walipata ushahidi wa kuchinjwa kwa mifupa ya Homo antecessor, spishi yenye utata iliyokuwa ikiishi Ulaya miaka milioni 1.2 iliyopita. "Kwa sababu hakuna spishi nyingine ya hominidi iliyopatikana katika eneo hilo wakati huo huo kama mifupa iliyokatwa, ni lazima waathirika walikula na aina yao wenyewe, ""timu hiyo ilihitimisha mnamo 2010 katika jarida la Current Anthropology." Leo, watu wanakula nyama ya binadamu katika mazingira mbalimbali: kwa ajili ya thamani ya lishe (mara nyingi wakati wa njaa), kama sehemu ya desturi za mazishi au wakati wa vita. Kusudi tofauti-tofauti la ulaji wa binadamu laweza kuacha mifumo tofauti-tofauti katika rekodi ya kiakiolojia. Wanadamu wanapokula wanadamu wengine kwa sababu za lishe tu, mara nyingi waathirika hutendewa kama windo lingine lolote. Hii ni kile watafiti walichogundua huko Gran Dolina. Watu 11 waliuawa kwa njia inayofanana na ile ya nyati na wanyama wengine wanaonyonyesha: mifupa ilikuwa na alama za kukatwa katika maeneo ya viungo vya misuli na fuvu la kichwa lilikuwa na alama za kuondolewa kwa nyama. Kwa hivyo, H. antecessor alionekana kula aina yake mwenyewe kwa kusudi la lishe - lakini labda sio kwa sababu ya upungufu wa chakula, kama timu inasema kuna ushahidi wa cannibalism kwa kipindi kirefu cha wakati, makumi au hata mamia ya miaka. Kwa hiyo kwa nini watu hula nyama ya wanadamu? Ili kupata jibu, watafiti hao waliwatazama chimpanzi. "Hiyo ni kwa sababu baadhi ya mambo ya ""H. antecessor"" ya kula nyama ya binadamu hayana kufanana na yale ya ""Human cannibalism"" ya kisasa au ""Cannibalism"" iliyoonekana kwa Neanderthals au wanadamu wa mapema wa kisasa walioishi miaka 100,000 iliyopita." Kwa mfano, tisa kati ya watu 11 waliouawa huko Gran Dolina walikuwa watoto au matineja, ikilinganishwa na watu wazima waliouawa hivi karibuni. Waathiriwa wachanga ni kielelezo kinachoonekana miongoni mwa chimpanzi. Wakati nyani wa kike wanapokuwa peke yao karibu na mpaka wa eneo lao, wanaume kutoka kikundi cha jirani wanaweza kuwaua na kula watoto wa kike. Carbonell na wenzake wanadokeza kwamba ufafanuzi bora wa tabia hii ni ulinzi wa eneo na upanuzi. Wanaume wanaweza kushambulia ili kuwaogopesha nyani wengine kama njia ya kulinda rasilimali zao na kupata ardhi mpya ya kutangatanga; mashambulizi kama hayo ni rahisi dhidi ya wanawake walio hatarini na watoto wao, ambao hufanya chakula kizuri. Timu hiyo pia inahitimisha ufafanuzi kama huo inaweza kuwa motisha nyuma ya H. antecessor cannibalism. Ikiwa hilo ni wazo lenye kusadikisha linategemea maswali fulani yasiyo na majibu. Kwa mfano, watafiti wanadhani kwamba ulaji wa binadamu ulikuwa matokeo ya vurugu na unyanyasaji kati ya vikundi, lakini hawapatani na ushahidi kwamba Wanyama wa binadamu wa H. antecessor walitoka katika kikundi tofauti na waathirika. Ikiwa wote walikuwa washiriki wa ukoo uleule, basi ulinzi wa eneo haionekani kuwa uwezekano. Pia inaonekana kuwa haiwezekani ikiwa muundo wa kijamii wa H. antecessor ulikuwa tofauti sana na wa chimpanzee - ambapo vikundi vya wanaume wanaohusiana kwa uwezekano hukusanyika pamoja ili kulinda eneo kwa bidii wakati wanawake katika jamii mara nyingi hutafuta chakula peke yao na watoto wao. Inaonekana kama timu ina kazi zaidi ya kufanya.