2023-07-03 16:46:25
This 1.4 million year old tibia may be the oldest evidence of cannibalism. Jennifer Clark.
DECRYPTION – Cut marks were found on a prehuman tibia, made by a congener of its owner to eat it.
The story does not say if the meat was good… But 1.4 million years ago, the flesh that surrounded this tibia was cut with a stone tool, presumably to be devoured. The bone, discovered in 1970 at the Koobi Fora site in Kenya, was kept in the collections of the Nairobi National Museum. Again analyzed by paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner (National Museum of Natural History in Washington), it could be the oldest observed evidence of cannibalism, according to her work published in the revue Scientific Report .
It’s hard to tell who ate who. 1.4 million years ago, East Africa was occupied by several groups of prehumans, two of which have been identified with certainty. The paranthropes, morphologically quite close to australopithecines and which had no descendants beyond 1.2 million years. And the line that will lead to A wise manwith homo ergasteralso called Standing man . «It is possible that diversity…
This article is for subscribers only. You have 79% left to discover.
Want to read more?
Unlock all items immediately.
Already subscribed? Login
#million #year #cannibalism