German cannibals

Archeologists have found rare evidence of prehistoric cannibalism in Europe at a site in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, according to a report in the scientific journal Antiquity.

More than 1,000 people died gruesome deaths in cannibalistic rituals, the report said. The victims included adults, children and babies.

The scene was uncovered by a group of French and German archeologists at Herxheim. The team, led by Bruno Boulestin of France's Bordeaux University, found a central enclosure about 250 meters (273 yards) across with the "butchered remains of human beings" in a series of elongated pits.

An examination of the bones suggested that the victims had been cut up in much the same way as animals were when they were butchered. According to German archeologist Andrea Zeeb-Lanz, there are marks to suggest that the bones had been carefully stripped of flesh and then broken to extract marrow.

A controversial theory

The carnage dated back to the Neolithic era, between 5,300 and 4,950 BC - a period "marked by war, sacrificial practices and every other form of social violence," the study said.

Zeeb-Lanz said she believes that the victims could have been subjects of complex ceremonies or killing rituals, although there is no solid evidence to back this theory. However, according to American magazine Science News, German archeologists Miriam Haidle and Joerg Orschiedt claim that the human remains are only the result of burial rituals, which had nothing to do with cannibalism.

According to the paper, although cannibalism was rare during this era - and prehistory in general - it was "probably underestimated due to the difficulties of recognizing and demonstrating it." The report also suggested that the find could be evidence of a deep crisis at the end of one pre-historical period.

"The existence of slaughters, of possible sacrificial practices, of wars and every other form of social violence fits well with the hypothesis of a millenarist crisis at the end of a cycle," the study concluded.

Since the team also found pottery identified as being from several thousand kilometers away, they concluded that the site had been a key political and religious center.

Scientists said they believe the consumption of humans in Europe may only have taken place in times of extreme hunger, since farming had already begun to spread in this part of the world during the Neolithic period.

ew/AFP/AP/dpa

Editor: Sean Sinico