Cannibals who once lived in Somerset cave engraved human bones as part of eating ritual, study finds

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Human bones appear to have been engraved as part of a “complex” cannabalistic ritual by people who once lived in Somerset, according to new research. “The sequence of the manipulations strongly suggests that the engraving was an intrinsic part of the multi-stage cannibalistic ritual and, as such, the marks must have held a symbolic connotation,” the researchers wrote. “The engraving of this bone may have been a sort of ‘story-tale’ more directly related to the deceased than the surrounding landscape, perhaps indicative of the individual, events from their life, the way they died, or the cannibalistic ritual itself.” They said the bones were not made to be carried around, but were “quickly engraved, with minimal preparation … then broken and discarded”. “Although in previous analyses we have been able to suggest that cannibalism at Gough’s Cave was practised as a symbolic ritual, this study provides the strongest evidence for this yet,” she said.