The Magdalenine peoples of the European ice age left little behind. Today, their bones are few and distant, they are typically in isolation and in fragments. But the remains of a 18,000 -year assembly tell us one thing: the ice age was a difficult time to have enemies.
Evaluation of the brands in the Magdaleninos remains of the Cave of Maszycka in the south of Poland, a team of researchers has determined that the Magdaleninos peoples dissected and cannibalized their dead about 18,000 years ago, a treatment that probably reserved for their enemies. According to the researchers, who revealed their results in a study in Scientific reports This month, brands provide information on the tensions of Magdalenine life, which were probably amplified as a result of improving the climatic conditions of the time.
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Magdalen brands
About a century ago, human remains were discovered in the Maszycka cave in Poland. Exploited between stone tools and bones and bits fake animals, the remains, which stood out for their strange scratches and scratches, were attributed to the Magdalenin peoples, who lived in Europe in the late ice age between 20,000 and 14,500 years ago.
Since the initial discovery in the Maszycka cave, bone fragments of 10 individuals have been recovered, since they have been recognized for their possible traces of cannibalism. Review of this macroscopic and microscopically assembly (and including in its revision several lost fragments previously), researchers behind Scientific reports The study has confirmed brands as signs of cannibalism, detecting deep cuts and blows that are characteristic of dissection and consumption.
Specifically, the team found brands in 36 fragments that suggest that the dead had been immediately massacred after having died. While cutting marks in skull bits indicate the intentional elimination of scalp and muscle accessories, the marks crushed in the bits of other bones indicate the intentional elimination of the bone marrow, which suggests that the dead had dissected With consumption.
“The position and frequency of the cutting marks, as well as the destroying of target bones, leave no doubt that their intention was to extract nutritious components from the dead,” said Francesc Marginedas, study author and researcher at the Catalan Institute of Paleoecology human and social evolution, according to a Press release.
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The meaning of Magdalenian cannibalism
According to the researchers, the cannibalism of the ice age is difficult to interpret. There is no meaning or motivation behind him. While some iterations involved the consumption of allies as an act of respect, others involved the consumption of enemies as an act of respect. While the difference between the two is sometimes difficult to determine from the bones and other archaeological traces, the researchers say that the signs in the Maszycka cave point to the latter.
“It is possible that this was an example of violent cannibalism,” Marginedas said in the statement. “The human remains were mixed with settlement remains in the Maszycka cave, indicating that the dead were not treated with respect.”
In fact, the remains were discarded with the remains of the Magdalenidas meals. They were not carefully buried, nor were they accompanied by the objects and offerings that are generally associated with the respectful consumption of the dead. This treatment, the researchers say, suggests that the deceased was possibly seen as opponents or others, potentially consumed after being beaten in a violent conflict.
Famous for their impressive sizes, the Magdaleninos peoples were also the artists behind the caves in Lascaux. “The wide range of artistic evidence points to favorable living conditions during this period,” said Thomas Terberger, another study author and researcher of the Department of Prehistory and Early History of the University of Göttingen, according to the statement. “Therefore, it seems unlikely that cannibalism has been practiced out of necessity.”
The period of time was characterized by improving climatic conditions and a boom in the population, conditions that decrease the probability that cannibalism was born from survival.
“After the last ice age, there was a population growth, and that may have led to conflicts on resources and territories,” Marginedas concluded in the statement.
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Sources of articles
Our writers in Discovermagazine.com Use studies reviewed by pairs and high quality sources for our articles, and our editors review to obtain scientific precision and editorial standards. Check the sources used below for this article:
Sam Walters is a journalist who covers archeology, paleontology, ecology and evolution for Discover, along with a variety of other issues. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
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