Remains that were found following two excavations in a prehistoric cave in the Alicante region of eastern Spain have proven that child cannibalism did take place more than 6,400 years ago.
During the Neolithic era, it was suggested that cannibalism could have been a selective ritual linked to funeral mourning carried out by the community of shepherds, farmers and artisans living in the caves.
A human jaw belonging to a six-year-old child was first discovered in 2018 at the Cova del Randero in Pedreguer. Then, in 2021, the ulna of a newborn was found showing signs of cannibalistic ritual, which may be a unique find in Spain.
Both sets of bones had human bite marks on them, identified by a team specialising in animal bite marks.
Rafael Martínez, head of the Department of Archeology at the Valencian Institute of Conservation, Restoration and Research said: “The marks were made on fresh bone shortly after the death of the two children.”
He added: “There are characteristic stigmata and very clear evidence of human manipulation with a very significant presence in the Cova del Randero.”
The MARQ Excavation and Archaeological Research Plan presented findings regarding the discoveries unearthed in Cova del Randero on Wednesday, October 23.
In 2023, various types of anthropic marks were identified which included cuts made with stone tools for disarticulation and skinning, flexion fractures to access the bone marrow, and human bites, in some cases destroying some parts of the bone.
The leader of the joint project, Jorge Soler, explained that “cannibalism was a relatively common activity during the Neolithic period throughout Europe, but mainly concentrated in Andalusia as far as the Iberian Peninsula is concerned”.
Consuelo Roca de Tagore added: “There is a thought in which death is projected into life and commemorates a living and beloved being.”
The excavation work at the caves has been funded for the past 14 years by the Provincial Council of Alicante.
The cave consists of an exterior “room” and several other interior “rooms” and the area was believed to have been used as a slaughterhouse where shepherds would take their animals.
“The exterior was intended for the animals,” said Soler, “and the interior were the shepherds’ rooms”.
The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, is the final division of the Stone Age in Europe, Asia, Mesopotamia and Africa, circa 10,000 BC to 2,000 BC. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This included the introduction of farming, the domestication of animals and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement.
