Restudy of three Spanish caves shows varied Neolithic cannibalism episodes

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Key facts

• Three caves in the Granada region of southern Spain (Carigüela, Malalmuerzo, and Majolicas) were excavated in the 1970s and have been textbook examples of Neolithic cannibalism for 50 years
• Original excavations yielded close to 1,000 human bones with cut marks, fractures, burns, and human bite marks
• New study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science combined direct radiocarbon dating with detailed taphonomic analysis to separate deliberate human action from scavenger damage and natural decay
• Co-led by Palmira Saladié (Institute of Archaeology of Mérida) and Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo, with Miguel C. Botella (professor emeritus at University of Granada), who first excavated the caves in the 1970s
• At Malalmuerzo around 5,000 BC: 714 bone fragments representing a minimum of 36 people of all ages; fractures consistent with trauma at or near time of death; interpretation is collective violence, a single brutal event
• At Carigüela: multiple separate episodes spread across different Neolithic phases, including two human skulls deliberately shaped into cups (skull cups), possibly linked to trophy-taking with parallels at Gough's Cave in England
• At Majolicas around 3,800 BCE: most recent episode, with some bones stained red with cinnabar (a mercury sulfide mineral sourced and traded over long distances); evidence points toward ceremony around handling of remains, not violence or hunger
• Findings cluster with three wider windows documented elsewhere in Neolithic and early Bronze Age Europe: late 6th millennium BCE, mid-5th millennium BCE, and late 3rd millennium BCE

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