The ancestors of gentlemen and ladies once consumed each other: thousands of gnawed human bones have been discovered in the southwest of England.

English Breakfast

British scientists are once again taken aback. They are horrified to confirm that they descend from bloodthirsty cannibals. Recent discoveries at the Charterhouse Warren excavation site in southwest England attest to this.

Archaeologists have uncovered over 3,000 gnawed human bones, belonging to what Rick Schulting from the University of Oxford reported in the journal Antiquity, were 37 individuals.

Under a microscope, teeth marks and tool scratches are visible on the bones, appearing after the flesh has been scraped off. Some bones were cracked open to extract the tasty marrow.

The horrific feast took place approximately 2,000 years ago. The cannibals discarded all remains into a 15-meter shaft. Such a massive bloody banquet indicates, according to the scientist, an “unprecedented level and scale of violence, painting a darker picture of that period than many might expect.”

The specifics of what transpired remain shrouded in mystery. It is known only that the victims were locals. Those who consumed them were certainly not starving—archaeologists also found numerous bones of domesticated animals in the same shaft.

Who were the cannibals? Why did they commit such atrocities? Answers are still elusive.

“The factors contributing to this monstrous violence remain unclear, but this event may have been part of a vicious cycle of revenge fueled by social and political pressures within or between early Bronze Age communities,” the study notes.

Bones showing signs of human teeth and tools.

The find at Charterhouse Warren is far from unique. It is not the first. Several years ago, gnawed human bones were excavated from Gough’s Cave in Somerset’s Cheddar Gorge and later from Kendrick's Cave in North Wales, both inhabited during the early Stone Age. Genetic analysis conducted by scientists from the British Natural History Museum along with colleagues from the Francis Crick Institute revealed that one of the cannibal's victims was a woman who lived 15,000 years ago. The eaten man lived about 13,000 years ago. This means that the ancestors of English gentlemen and ladies began eating their fellow tribesmen long ago and continued for several millennia.

Bloodthirsty Europeans

Scattered remains of cannibalistic feasts are regularly found in continental Europe.

The bones with signs of stone tools discovered by archaeologists led by Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro from the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain, date back 800,000 years.

The site of a mass cannibalistic orgy.

Since then, the habits of ancient Europeans have not changed significantly. This is supported by French archaeologists. In 2009, under the leadership of Dr. Bruno Boulestin from Bordeaux University in France, they excavated gnawed bones of approximately 500 people near the village of Herxheim in southwest Germany. They were consumed around 7,000 years ago.

Culinary techniques have changed, however. People began cooking over fire. Distinctive traces indicated that many bodies were roasted whole on spits.

Some scholars, however, suggest that the observed damage to human bones might not be related to cannibalism. They propose that flesh was removed for certain ritual purposes before burial. But this is hard to believe.

It is more likely that those who assert Europeans were indeed cannibals are correct. Bermudez supports this view, recalling the common dumps of human and animal bones. In his opinion, this rules out any ritual motives.

According to the scientist's hypothesis, ancient ancestors consumed enemies killed in battle from other tribes, arguing that nothing should go to waste. They also specifically “hunted.” Easy prey included children, women, and teenagers abducted from enemies and left unattended. All were considered a type of game. No guilt was felt.

Yet there are scholars who hold the opposite view: by consuming enemies and not burying their remains, instead discarding them in “dumps,” ancestors might have ritualistically humiliated their foes: dehumanizing them, to put it in scientific terms. In other words, they treated them as animals.

Another question remains: when and how did cannibalism become taboo? And when did it begin to evoke an overwhelming disgust in normal people? Answers are still lacking.

An ancient Englishman's pot.

BY THE WAY

The first kitchenware was “humanoid”

British cannibals uniquely processed human skulls, using them as bowls, plates, or pots. They ate and drank from them, lacking any other kitchenware.

The “pots” found in the cannibal cave are stripped of jaws and eye sockets. Only the upper domes remain. Sharp edges have been smoothed, and the bone tissue cleaned and polished.

Scientists examined three skulls with clear signs of mechanical processing. Two belonged to adults, and one to a three-year-old child. It is possible that this was the first kitchenware used by humans. Plates or bowls were made from large skulls, while cups came from smaller, child-sized skulls. A service… The English remain quite inventive. Especially British scientists.