Cut Marks on Human Bone

Paper Summary:

This paper stresses that, even when speaking of the natural processes, it has been difficult to determine whether alterations to bone were by burning and heating, which would indicate cannibalism for nutrition, or by natural processes. The author points out that whether homo sapiens practiced cannibalism, the American Association for the Advancement of Science has come in on the side of the cannibalism debate, at least as far as our ancestor Neanderthals go. The paper indicates that the research on cut marks on bone is divided into prehistoric sites, early historic sites, and sites where there is a generally reliable linguistic record.

Table of Contents
The Beginning of the Debate
The Debate Filters Out of Academia
International Debate
Pro-cannibalism Evidence
The Oldest Part of the Debate Continues Under Investigation
Violence and Death, Without Cannibalism
Modern Cannibalism
Modern Deaths and Cut Marks

From the Paper:

"While the controversy about cannibalism vis a vis cut marks originated in Asian sites, it has become a hot topic vis a vis U.S. sites in the southwest as well, and not only concerning the Anasazi. Billman, Lambert and Leonard grappled with it in excavating 5MT10010, a small early Pueblo III habitation site in southwestern Colorado. They examined battered, broken bones from seven individuals in two adjacent pithouses there, including mixed and incomplete remains of four adults and an adolescent, and the remains of two subadults."

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