The marks on the 1.5 million-year-old bone suggest that a stone tool was used to remove muscle from bone.
Jennifer ClarkScientists believe that nine of the 11 marks were made by stone putz ; the other two were made by a Leo - like animal .
Fifty year after the shin bone of a distant human relative was discovered in Kenya , a paleoanthropologist discover something unsettling about tiny grooves on the bone ’s surface . Briana Pobiner was looking for tooth scar left by fauna when she notice straight lines leave by a tool , which indicate something else had get to the bone — another homo .
“ I was floored and shocked and get going , ‘ No way , ' ” Pobiner , the spark advance generator of anew study on the boneand a paleoanthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History , told theWashington Post . She immediately looped in her confrere , telling them : “ do here . Come look at this . Am I crazy ? ”
Jennifer ClarkScientists believe that nine of the 11 marks were made by stone tools; the other two were made by a lion-like animal.
Indeed , the 1.45 million - year - honest-to-god os appear to have been cut with stone tools , intend that it could be the oldest grounds of human cannibalism ever found . The cut marks are all in the same direction , hint that the soul handle the stone tool without change hands .
“ These cut brand look very similar to what I ’ve run across on animal fossils that were being processed for consumption , ” Pobiner excuse in anews releaseabout the find . “ It seems most likely that the meat from this leg was eaten and that it was eaten for nutrition as play off to for a rite . ”
That said , Pobiner pointed out the osseous tissue marks are only cannibalism if the os comes from the same human mintage that slew it up , and there were three sleep together species live in the region where the osseous tissue was found 1.5 million long time ago : Homo erectus , Homo habilisandParanthropus boisei .
Briana PobinerA close up of the cut marks on the 1.45 million-year-old bone, which could be the earliest known evidence of cannibalism.
“ You have to know who is doing the eating and who is being eaten , and in this case we know neither , ” she narrate theWashington Post , take down that it ’s difficult to determine a species with a individual pearl .
Briana PobinerA close up up of the cut of meat marks on the 1.45 million - year - old bone , which could be the early known grounds of cannibalism .
In summation to the stone marks , Pobiner and her colleagues also found other marks on the bone which come along to have been result by an beast . One of the field ’s co - authors , Michael Pante of Colorado State University , make 3D electronic computer model of the marks and determined that while nine were burn Simon Marks from a tool , two had come from a Leo the Lion - like animal . But which came first ?
Jennifer ClarkHow this ancient human ancestor initially died is unclear, as its shinbone bears marks of both bone stone tools and animal teeth.
The researchers are n’t sure if ancient humans killed the victim , who an animal then scavenge , or if an creature kill the victim , who ancient humans then cannibalized .
“ It seems a bit unusual for a large feline like a lion to scavenge the remains of a [ hominin ] that has already had its abstruse muscle work , ” Antonio Rodríguez - Hidalgo of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleontology and Social Evolution ( who did not participate in the bailiwick ) , enjoin theWashington Post . “ What would be go out for the cats to salvage ? Only the marrow , but large CT are not known for their os - crack abilities , and the tibia appear to be intact . So , this scenario does n’t seem very plausible . ”
Whoever attacked first , Pobiner is still convinced that the stone cut on the bone are indicative of human cannibalism .
Jennifer ClarkHow this ancient human ancestor ab initio died is indecipherable , as its shin bears marks of both ivory Harlan Stone tools and brute tooth .
“ The information we have tells us that hominins were likely eating other hominins at least 1.45 million years ago , ” she say . “ There are numerous other examples of specie from the human evolutionary tree waste each other for nutrition , but this fossil suggests that our metal money ’ relatives were eat up each other to survive further into the past than we recognized . ”
In other tidings , cannibalism among humanity could have a long account . And though gruesome , that history could recount us a lot about prehistoric societies .
“ [ C]annibalism in Homo sapiens carries deep philosophic implications , ” Rodríguez - Hidalgo note . “ It evoke question about love versus hate , family versus enemy , war cannibalism versus mortuary cannibalism , and feast versus dearth . ”
After reading about how scientist possibly find the earlier grounds of human cannibalism on a 1.45 million - year - old pearl , look through theseterrifying accounts of human cannibalism . Or , see how the infamousDonner Partygot trapped in the mountains en itinerary to California and resorted to cannibalism to live .
