A new study suggests that Spain's ancient peoples shared complex beliefs about death and the afterlife.
Ancient human bones buried thousands of years ago in a cave in southern Spain show signs of being manipulated — and perhaps even eaten in possible bouts of cannibalism, according to a new study.
Authors Zita Laffranchi and Marco Milella, both bioarchaeologists at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and Rafael Martínez Sánchez, an archaeologist at the University of Córdoba in Spain, studied human remains from at least 12 ancient burials from Mármoles cave, about 45 miles southeast of Córdoba. The cave was occupied by prehistoric humans at different times, and several ancient burials have been excavated there since the 1930s.
Perhaps the most striking object they studied was a"skull cup" made from a human cranium, probably from a man between the ages of 35 and 50 when he died. Life and deathThe researchers said they can't tell exactly how or why many of the human remains in the Mármoles Cave were utilized after death, but they suggested that some of the bones were broken to extract marrow, a valuable source of nutrients, while others may have been modified into tools or weapons or used for rituals.
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