The Bone Cave
Alveston Gloucestershire
1 March 2001

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The Gough's Cave 'cannibals'
During the excavations at Gough's Cave, at Cheddar, in 1927–28, human bones were recovered, all of which had been split in a manner resembling the way animal bones are opened to get at the marrow. Skull fragments found there from five individuals showed fractures that appeared to have been made when the bone was still fresh. Further excavations in 1986–87 produced about 120 human cranial and postcranial remains from a small area near the entrance of the cave. The remains represented at least five individuals, consisting of three adults and two children.

The Gough's cave bones date from some 8,000 years before those found at Alveston. But do they represent evidence of another case of cannibalism among our ancestors? Mark P Renzoni's PhD thesis for the University of Toronto, 'The Upper Late Paleolithic in Britain: Gough's Cave Cheddar' (available online at http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/ANTD15/Mark/human.html), looks at all the different excavations that have taken place at Gough's Cave. This is how he summarises the evidence for cannibalism (references to his various sources have been removed for ease of reading):

'Both the human and animal remains recovered from Gough's display cut marks, providing evidence of human processing of both animal and human remains. Based on the recent material, an examination of the human material indicates that human corpses were dismembered at, or shortly after, death. This is indicated by the presence of cut marks in the area of the masseter and temporalis attachments, as well as by the separation of the ribs from the vertebrae. The presence of cut marks on human remains at Gough's and the disposal of the human material has also led to the suggestion of ancient cannibalism at this cave site, although the acceptance of this statement can not be made until a detailed study of the cut marks and their distribution is completed. It is however noted that, "If cannibalism is implied, its practice could not have been a dietary necessity because plenty of food seems to have been available at the site throughout the period of occupation." The evidence from the research on the human material indicates that the late glacial occupants of Gough's Cave dismembered their dead, although the meaning behind this type of behavior is a more difficult question to answer.'

Other websites

Forensic Archaeology
http://archaeology.about.com/cs/forensic/
Forensic archaeology is about applying archaeological methods to the investigation of crime. The methods used by archaeologists in excavating human remains from the distant past are now widely recognised and adopted by law enforcement officers (including human rights investigators) investigating more recent murders and other crimes. The Forensic Archaeology website offers some of the best all-round information on forensic archaeology on the web, with detailed information on bone pathology, taphonomy, geophysics, odontology and environmental archaeology. Promised soon are pages on university courses and the law. Also contains an excellent set of links to related websites.

Spoilheap
www.spoilheap.co.uk/hsr.htm
The Spoilheap website contains well-presented information about burial archaeology and human bones. Why excavate human bones? What can we learn from studying them? These and other questions are answered, along with introductions to palaeopathology and different techniques of ageing, sexing and otherwise analysing bones. The section on burial archaeology deals with burial practices by period, the legal aspects of burial archaeology, archaeological techniques, and interpretation and conclusions. Good bibliographies are also provided.

Capra, the Journal for Cave Archaeology and Palaeontology
www.shef.ac.uk/~capra/
As well as the journal articles and other resources, Capra's online gazetteers of hominid-bearing caves in England, Scotland and Wales contain summaries of information about caves, fissures and rock shelters that have contained human remains of possible or proven prehistoric date. The gazetteers are organised into regions with bibliographies of all published information supplied for each cave.

The Capra website includes an article by Jodie Lewis, of the University of Bristol, 'Upwards at 45 degrees: the use of vertical caves during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age on Mendip, Somerset'(Capra2, available at www.shef.ac.uk/~capra/2/upwards.html). The Mendip Hills in Somerset contain geological features known locally as swallets, vertical 'shafts' in the limestone, usually formed by dissolutional activity. In recent years, excavations by cavers have revealed a range of archaeological material placed inside them. The materials are generally of prehistoric date, and seem to indicate a climax of deposition in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. Using the evidence from two sites, Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet and Brimble Pit Swallet, it is argued that swallets were being used for deliberate ritual deposition during these periods. A link between swallets and monuments is also made, both in terms of the material placed within them and their relationship in the landscape.

Further reading

Digging Up Bones by D R Brothwell (Cornell University Press, 1981) £23.95 ISBN: 0801498759
The archaeologist's standard text on the subject.

The Archaeology of Human Bones by Simon Mays (Routledge, 1998) £22.95 ISBN: 0415174074
A newer introduction to the subject.

Human Bones in Archaeology by Ann Stirland (Shire Publications, 1999) £4.99 ISBN: 0747804125
Useful beginner's guide, as always in the Shire series.

Human Remains by Andrew Chamberlain (British Museum Press, 1994) £4.95 ISBN: 0714120928
In this introduction, the author explains how modern methods of forensic archaeology can reveal the age, sex, stature and ancestry of human remains, and investigates the evidence of injury and infection on bones and teeth. The use of DNA fingerprinting in the study of human remains is also explored in detail.

The Buried Soul and The Invention of Death by Timothy Taylor are due for publication in 2002 by Fourth Estate.
Timothy Taylor, of Bradford University, was one of the experts used in the Channel 4 series Cannibal because his book, The Buried Soul, deals, in part, with cannibalism. He has previously worked with the National Geographic on programmes about headhunting, cannibalism, and human sacrifice.

Cannibalism: From Sacrifice to Survival by Hans Askenasy (Prometheus Books, 1994) £22 ISBN: 0879759062
Examines the long history of cannibalism.

The Anthropology of Cannibalism by L R Goldman (Bergin & Garvey, 1999) hardback £54.95/paperback £16.95 ISBN: 0897895967/ 0897895975
Cannibalism exists in folklore traditions as the definition of the antithesis of socially accepted morality, as well as something that in practice was a conduit for the regeneration and reproduction of positive values. This book looks at how and why cannibalism was actually practised across cultures.

Studies in Crime: An introduction to forensic archaeology by John Hunter, Charlotte Roberts and Anthony Martin (Batsford, 2nd edition 1995) £26 ISBN 0415166128
The study of forensic archaeology is a new discipline which has rapidly gained importance, not only in archaeological studies but also in the study of contemporary crime. This book, written by members of the archaeology department at Bradford University, includes discussion of the methods of searching for and locating buried remains, the decay of buried human remains and their associated materials, and the analysis and identification of remains including the use of DNA testing, and dating time of death. A concluding chapter examines 'archaeological science as forensic science'.

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