近千根人骨重检揭示：西班牙三处洞穴的食人记录跨越1500年，从集体暴力到葬礼仪式各有不同
一项发表在《考古科学杂志》（Journal of Archaeological Science）第194卷上的新研究，重新检视了来自西班牙南部格拉纳达省三处洞穴的近1000根人类遗骨，得出结论：新石器时代伊比利亚半岛南部的食人现象延续了约1500年，而且在不同地点、不同时期呈现完全不同的形态——有的源于集体暴力，有的很可能属于葬礼仪式。《纽约时报》Trilobites科学专栏近日报道了这项研究。
研究由加泰罗尼亚人类古生态与社会进化研究所（IPHES-CERCA）与西班牙国家研究理事会（CSIC）下属梅里达考古研究所等机构共同完成，论文第一作者为帕尔米拉·萨拉迪耶（Palmira Saladié），安东尼奥·罗德里格斯-伊达尔戈（Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo）等人参与。研究团队通过显微观察寻找骨骼上的切割痕、骨折和齿痕，并结合直接放射性碳测年，逐件重新鉴定了这些最早于1970年代由考古学家米格尔·博特利亚报道的遗骨。
三处洞穴的故事各不相同。马拉穆埃尔索洞穴的遗骨可追溯到约公元前5300年至前4950年：包括儿童在内的各年龄段死者被杀后被食用，属于一次集体暴力事件。卡里盖拉洞穴在新石器时代多个阶段反复出现食人证据，其中包括两件被加工成器物的人类头骨杯。年代最晚的马霍利卡斯洞穴遗骨约在公元前3950年至前3760年，骨骼上没有暴力痕迹，许多骨头被朱砂染成红色，研究者认为那更像葬礼仪式中的食人行为。
研究者指出，就全欧洲而言，新石器时代食人的证据集中出现在三个时段：公元前六千纪末、公元前五千纪中叶和公元前三千纪末。罗德里格斯-伊达尔戈表示，如今伊比利亚半岛已知有十几处新石器时代食人遗址，「我们不能再谈论单一形式的食人行为：每一个案例都需要单独解释」。
Nearly 1,000 Bones Re-Examined: Three Spanish Caves Show 1,500 Years of Cannibalism, From Mass Violence to Funerary Ritual
A new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science (volume 194) has re-examined nearly 1,000 human bones from three caves in Granada province, southern Spain, concluding that cannibalism in the Neolithic southern Iberian Peninsula recurred over some 1,500 years — and took very different forms in different places and periods, from collective violence to what was likely funerary ritual. The research was covered this week by The New York Times' Trilobites science column.
The work was led by the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA) together with the Mérida Institute of Archaeology of Spain's National Research Council (CSIC) and partner institutions. First author Palmira Saladié, Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo and colleagues used microscopic analysis to identify cut marks, fractures and tooth marks, combined with direct radiocarbon dating, re-studying assemblages first reported in the 1970s by archaeologist Miguel C. Botella.
Each cave tells a different story. At Malalmuerzo, dated to about 5300–4950 BCE, people of all ages, children included, were killed and consumed in an episode of collective violence. At Carigüela, cannibalism recurred across several Neolithic phases, including two human skulls fashioned into skull cups. At Majolicas, the latest site at about 3950–3760 BCE, the bones show no pattern of violence and many were stained red with cinnabar, which the researchers interpret as ritual, funerary cannibalism.
Across Europe, the researchers note, evidence of Neolithic cannibalism clusters in three periods: the late sixth millennium BCE, the mid-fifth millennium and the late third. "We can no longer speak of a single form of cannibalism," Rodríguez-Hidalgo said; more than a dozen Neolithic cannibalism sites are now known in Iberia, and "each case needs to be explained individually.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图为研究团队公布的西班牙新石器时代人骨标本，可见切割与损伤痕迹（图：A. Rodríguez-Hidalgo，IAM/CSIC） / A Neolithic human bone specimen released by the research team, showing cut and injury marks (Photo: A. Rodríguez-Hidalgo, IAM/CSIC)
