Our ancestors were cannibals – and probably not because they needed the calories
In the recently released horror movie Raw, a lifelong vegetarian teenager arrives at a veterinary school and, after being forced to consume a rabbit kidney at a student initiation ritual, discovers a deep desire to eat human flesh. Most of us are fascinated with cannibalism – and there are many examples of brutal and dark dramas exploring the topic, including Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.
But in real life, cannibalism hasn’t just been practised by bloodthirsty psychopaths. Common motivations for eating human flesh include periods of starvation, warfare and ritualistic behaviour. And it hasn’t been all that uncommon – many of our ancestors were actually cannibals. But exactly why has remained a bit of a mystery. In a new paper, published in Scientific Reports, I have now started to answer the question.
http://www.heritagedaily.com/2017/04/our-ancestors-were-cannibals-and-probably-not-because-they-needed-the-calories/114501
