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00:03 Cannibalism is one of those dark sides of humanity, a cultural practice that has all
00:08 but disappeared in modern times, and for good reason.
00:11 However, despite being an act that can turn the stomach in an instant, paleoanthropologists
00:15 are now saying that it may have been a much larger part of humanity's history than once
00:19 believed.
00:20 New research into the cultural practices in Paleolithic Northern Europe has revealed that
00:24 rather than burying their dead, they ate them instead.
00:27 This was around 15,000 years ago, several millennia before humankind moved from hunter-gatherer
00:32 to an agricultural society.
00:34 This was predominantly done by the Magdalenian peoples that lived in the area, with the researchers
00:38 finding evidence of post-mortem body manipulation.
00:41 This included saw and tooth marks on bones and other signs of butchering after death.
00:45 The researchers say the evidence they discovered showed that cannibalism was practiced by a
00:49 genetically distinct group from others in the area, all part of some prehistoric funerary
00:54 practices, with the researchers writing that this is the oldest evidence of cannibalism
00:58 as a funerary practice.
00:59 So why did it disappear?
01:01 The researchers say that the other preeminent ancestry in the region took over, with their
01:04 cultural practices replacing those of the cannibalistic lineage.
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