The Pre-Historic Era’s Most Vicious and Bizarre Cannibalistic Creatures
Archaeology has allowed everyday humans to discover the lives of those that had once walked the earth. However, there were some that were a bit more active than others, causing havoc and destruction to all those unlike and like themselves.
During the Pre-Historic Era, certain species were limited in their access to food supplies, and so they were forced to feed on their own kind, giving them the ability to sustain their lives a bit longer.
Image via Wikipedia
Majungatholus
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
In 1998, paleontologist/anatomist Scott Sampson from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine discovered several fossils on what is now the island of Madagascar. A Majungatholus skull was found, making it the best preserved dinosaur skull ever found. Sampson said, “It’s the kind of face that only a mother could love. It had textured, convoluted bone all over the surface of the skull which probably had skin tightly adhering to it. It had this horn-like structure on the top of the head between the eyes and another projection at the back of the skull as well.”
Image via Wikipedia
Teeth marks along with serrated smaller notches were found embedded on the Majungatholus measuring the same width as the teeth on the dinosaur itself, implying that it may have been involved in a struggle with the same species.
Neanderthals
Around 43,000 years ago, the Neanderthals were turning to cannibalism—even brain-eating—. Discoveries of fossil remains suggest that these prehistoric humans looked entirely different from their northern counterparts. The Osteology of this species clearly suggests signs of dismemberment and skinning.
Image via Wikipedia
Cannibalistic actions included cutting of the flesh, using small stone tools and smashing open the skull using larger tools to access the brain and marrow.
Image via Wikipedia
“Reports of the Neandertals (often spelled “Neanderthals”) ate their own kind, says paleoanthropologist Antonio Rosas of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. Rosas is the lead researcher for the study, which is published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
Anasazi
MesaVerde
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Around 900 AD in the Chaco Canyon, center of this pre-historic culture, the Anasazi of the southwestern U.S. routinely “processed their colleagues . . . skinned them, roasted them . . . severed their joints . . . and put the pieces into pots.” Unfortunately, history has continued to be a distressing chronicle of man’s inhumanity to man.
Today, Chaco Canyon is a Mecca for New Agers. They like to believe that Anasazi existed in full harmony with nature. However, the archaeological evidence is exceedingly “inconvenient for those who argue that man in his natural state was “good” and that civilization as we know it is “evil.””
Cave Bears
Scientists have always believed that these creatures were gentle, feeding solely on vegetables and fruits. However, bones were discovered in the Carpathians – the mountains where Dracula supposedly dwelt – suggesting that cave bears could have also been cannibals.
Ongoing studies of their bones and other accessory organs suggest that only a certain cave bear, dwelling in the Carpathians were carnivorous. They had high levels of Nitrogen 15 in their bones, which was highly bizarre considering that cave bears normally had low levels of Nitrogen-15.
Ultimately, Cave bears died out around 20,000 years ago when the ice had dominated the earth.
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User Comments
goodselfme
On June 10, 2009 at 3:19 am
Your work on this piece is well recived. Interesting and educational too. TX
Mr Ghaz
On June 10, 2009 at 4:16 am
Wow!..this is really wonderful article..I really enjoyed it..well presented too..Thanx for sharing this great work.
James DeVere
On June 10, 2009 at 5:12 am
Spiders and roaches are today’s cannibals; not to mention banks and elected officials!
Thanks for the info
j
Joe Dorish
On June 10, 2009 at 6:58 am
Liked the point you made about the Anasazi, people who think cultures like that were great have not studied history.
rajeev bhargava
On June 10, 2009 at 8:34 am
i really enjoyed reading the complete article and staring at the photographs. it’s like an electronic encyclopedia. well done! and thank you so much for sharing. i was particulary impressed by the neanderthal man and cave bears.
Mark Gordon Brown
On June 10, 2009 at 8:52 am
When I saw the title I thought immediatly “I hope she mentions people”. Glad you did!
B Nelson
On June 10, 2009 at 9:08 am
tastes like chicken???
HatedNation
On June 10, 2009 at 9:58 am
Ok so maybe everything mentioned would not have been pleasant, but that Mesa Verde town looks amazing! It would be cool to have lived in a place like that.
Patrick Bernauw
On June 10, 2009 at 10:49 am
Here are some nasty ones!
lowellpendon
On June 10, 2009 at 11:18 am
i just love reading this type of article, not only so informative but obviously very educational. an the way you presented your article with visual, the photos are just amazing.
Kudos to you Lauren
CHAN LEE PENG
On June 10, 2009 at 11:51 am
Good lessons for me. Educational and I learned something here..thanks..Liked it..
Glynis Smy
On June 10, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Interesting article, good research.
DA Cournean
On June 10, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Great article! Good job!!!
Kate Smedley
On June 10, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Excellent article Lauren, I love this type of history lesson, great pictures too, I bet this was fun to research.
Gon pincha
On June 10, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Interesting
Weird, but interesting xD
Rynn Michaelz
On June 10, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I really enjoyed this Lauren, great article.
lindalulu
On June 10, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Great article and some great photos too!
thebreadbinman
On June 10, 2009 at 7:14 pm
“Today, Chaco Canyon is a Mecca for New Agers. They like to believe that Anasazi existed in full harmony with nature. However, the archaeological evidence is exceedingly “inconvenient for those who argue that man in his natural state was “good” and that civilization as we know it is “evil.”””
Surely it is society itself that has deemed cannibalism evil?
Other species would just see it as a way of surviving which is the Darwinian theory of evolution and survival…
Moses Ingram
On June 10, 2009 at 7:23 pm
If reincarnation is true, maybe we were around back then! The thought just struck me. Great article.
Unofre Pili
On June 10, 2009 at 7:43 pm
This is very scholarly article Lauren, kind of scary though. Thanks for sharing.
Juancav
On June 10, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Interesting study about cannibalistic creatures in pre-historic era
rizzei
On June 11, 2009 at 9:45 am
this post is beautiful..especially with the images above..everything isa clearly stated..nice:)
JamieJCO
On June 11, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Great article, I didnt know about any of this stuff.
The part about the prehistoric humans turning to cannabalism is intriguing too
Jamie
mdartist
On June 11, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Interesting article.
valli
On June 11, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Interesting as well as educational.
Juhls
On June 12, 2009 at 9:27 am
Wow! Great weath of information. A lot of new stuff to me, although I have been to the Anasazi cave community with my family. I was really young, though, and didn’t recall the historical aspects. Neat to piece things together now.
Jo Oliver
On June 12, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Isn’t history just fascinating~ well done my friend. Great research!
Ruby Hawk
On June 12, 2009 at 7:57 pm
History is facinating and apalling. Well written and educational.
Chris Stonecipher
On June 12, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Lauren,
Your research project was done well. It was informative, captivating and well researched. I always learn something new from your articles.
Lostash
On June 13, 2009 at 4:59 am
Most interesting article, and I never realised about our cannibalistic ancestors!
Janet65
On June 13, 2009 at 9:51 am
Hi Lauren,
Wow! What an article, and those photos are great. I would never have imagined that such things existed. Thanks for sharing
Annie Hintsala
On June 13, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Good article! My son loved the picture of the dinosaur and bones, but I did choose not to read it to him
techone09
On June 15, 2009 at 6:33 am
Weird. Glad I live in modern times
accampbell
On June 16, 2009 at 1:18 am
Outstanding, I can’t wait to read another of your articles.
Kairos
On June 16, 2009 at 8:58 am
interesting
Aleksandar Radojicic
On June 17, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Great article.Nice pictures, too.The Anasazi drawing is very interesting.
Jessica Rowe
On June 17, 2009 at 8:58 pm
great article, very well done, great images as well.
BeatsMe
On June 18, 2009 at 10:23 am
Oooh. Scary creatures. Funny even humans are scary, then and now.
jedopi
On June 18, 2009 at 11:46 am
Interesting article but very disturbing about the Anasazi. I have never heard of them before.
Jeffrey B. Merrow
On June 18, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Hi Lauren.
Well done. This read was presented with great presentation. the pictures where fantastic. Your articles are always so well deserving of the reader. Keep up the great work.
amilia snow
On June 19, 2009 at 10:43 pm
very interesting, i liked it!
Scorpio
On June 28, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I note the pseudo-intellectual “Neandertal” up there. Sorry, but when a village changes its name, species names do not follow.
Lauren Axelrod
On June 29, 2009 at 8:41 am
The Neanderthal (pronounced /ni(ː)ˈændərtɑːl/, /ni(ː)ˈændərθɔːl/), or /neɪˈændərtɑːl/), or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia.
Depending on the context of the article, and what was written was pertaining to prehistoric life, the scientific names like Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis for Neandertal man are not affected by this change, because the laws of taxonomy retain the original spelling at the time of naming.
HelloSiti
On July 8, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Very well researched, hope you can get your Doctor of Archaeology degree as soon as possible!
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