Cannibalism : Defininition
- humans eating humans
Controversy
- the controversy is that people are not willing to accept the evidences of cannibalism
- Jane goodal was ignored by her audiences as they turned their backs and left
- Diane Fassi was hasseled during her speech about cannibalism.
- a lot of it has to do with how the humans want to perceive their ancestors.
- it is evident in the eucharist as it is a symbol of the christs blood and flesh.
skeletal evidence
- olduvai gorge : the burial where the human remains were buried similarly to the remains of the animals.
= aTAPUERCA , sPAIN , 800,000 - breakage of the long bone, skull, mandible
- bone fragments
- bones broken, breakage to get to the marrow and the ends are gone.
where else is cannibalism evident?
cannibalism is widely evident in primates.
when a female primate enters a new group , the infants are immediately killed by the dominant male. it is a symbol of kin selection in order to assert social control.
= to remove infants perceived to be malformed or imperfect.
archaeological evidence
1) cutting : disarticulation : the continuous hit by a stone to break the bone. ( blow from a stone to cut the bone)
neandertal sites are full of cannibalism signs ( blow for access to the marrow cavity and blow to the joints for fat)
2) peeling : only evident in juveniles as the bone is not completely ossified yet. greenstick fracture ( does not break completely) , cortex peels which is a sign of cannibalism.
3) crushing: either by chewing or crushing
4) burning: no fire in the neadertals so it is not evident
- present in recent humans
- this refers to only consumption
- we cant kknow the intent for killing
pot polish
- it is associated with cooking and it results in the ends being smooth from abrasion with other bones . it has low density.
Cannibalism : etic vs. emic
1) etic : objective , what the anthropologist understands the reason to be.
a) preference : the people in fiji say that they eat it because they like the taste. it is also part of their society and which is deeply embedded in their culture.
- tools were used specifically for cannibalism ( extremely restricted)
- the diet of the pacific islanders is good so it is hard to find a secondeary expalantaion.
- they dont have red meat ( or mammals) suggestion was that it was a way to make up for thelack of red meat
- preferential seems to appear only in the islands
b) the fore want to preserve their dead and they most of their deaths are accompanied by an initiation to a feast.
- the fore people are horticulturalist , lush environment and they have access to consistent food sources but not abundant. they use everything.
- it also reflects animism , by consuming the part of the body you are also consuming the traits.
Kuru
- disease that causes trembling and Gadjusek found out that the women who were suffering from Kuru had consumed the brain.
how does Kuru occur?
Kuru occurs by new mutations, inheritance or consuming infected flesh.
- gadjusek diagnosed it as heritable spongiform encephalopathy.
- it is similar to
a) creuztfeldt- Jacob Disease - spongiform Encephalopathies
- mad- cow disease ( in cows)
- scrapie ( sheep)
Kuru
- brain breaks down
- normal cells become spikeballs ( end of the dandelions)
- breakdown into plaques with numerous prions ( not DNA but type of genetic materials)
- prions
- composed of amino acids, but exact group of amino acid causes the disease
- chemical cascade related to the prions
code 129
- homozygotes: increase susceptibility to kuru , earlier age of onset .
- heterozygotes had protection , we are all heterozygous at codon 129. no kuru
Algonquin Cree
1) Compulsive
2) they believed in windigo or windingo
3) emic : there is a person who is said to be missing, search is done but they dont find him/her. they say that thy got consumed by the windingo. some member of the Cree group is identified as the killer and executed
what is the emic explanatio and the etic explanation of the Angonquin
1) the emic explanation is that it is a culture bound syndrome, wherein , the people cannot handle the stress of their environemnt and this has taken a physical effect on people through pychic disorder and cannibalistic compulsion.
2) the etic explantation is that it is just a figment. there is no one that actually goes missing and it is created by the elders of the group . all of the reports are secondary or tertiary and no first hand sightings observed. even the person who has gone missing is not known by anyone.
what is the conclusion as presented by Professor K?
- She said that there is only one person that is dead, the one that is executed because of the belief that they killed the missing person.
- the executed all shared one common traits: they were all troublemakers and wife beaters. this was the way to maintain the peace that the Cree valued so much.
Crisis : Aztecs
- the Aztecs had a large empire, maintained by a warrior elite. - empire was maintained not for the land but the main motive was to acquire captives .
- the most valuable blood was the blood that was acquired in the direst of consequences.
- war like society and religion played an important role in the society.
- the basic purpose was cosmic balance, achieved by blood sacrifices.
- the aztec art showed a lot of blood and consumption.
- skull racks counted more than 100,000 in the capital city alone.
Codex borgia
- wearing human skin. however the direct evidence of cannibalism is very minimal.
Harner: aztec
- he said that he aztec diet was poor and the human meat provided hgh quality protein for them that was othersie unavailable to them.
- Population pressure model
- population increase calls for the need to find more food.
was their diet poor? - diet was very rich.
are humans a good source? - it turns out that humans were not efficient source of protein as 50 kilo person will yield 30 kilos of meat (4500 g of protein)
cooks explanation
1) method of population control.
Ernandes
1) chronic serotonin deficiency
2) the main component of the aztec diet is corn, very low transmitter of serotonin.
serotonic deficiency: symptoms includes lack of empathy , loss of self control , aggression , and increased feelings of fantasy, magical thinking.
- excessive fantasies about cannibalism
- look at corn eating people and see if they were cannibals.
spanish
-Aztecs were bloodthirsty and evil by nature. they used this as a reason to sell them.
Aztec cannibalism : why did the aztecs do it? on what scale did they do it?
- gods demanded blood shed in pain from sacrifices usually from war captives
- blood which the nobles consumed as blood was most effective when consumed.
How much protein do human need?
- human protein requirement is for a 50 kilo person .75 to 1 g daily
therefore one adult human requires 35-50 g protein daily for optimum health.
did they do it ? why did the aztecs do it? - were they bloodthirsty cannibals - was their diet poor ? - was population increase a problem 3) on what scale did they do it
NO.
NO .
MAYBE
Starvation or acute: Anasazi
american southwest : settlement and violence
around 1000 AD. The health status was good along with minimal violence.
- once population growth and cultural development occurred, health status was good but there was an increased violence.
0 after the drought, poor health status and much greater violence . there is an increase in fortifications as the raiders are coming in.
