LONDON, Oct 10, (Agencies): A recent study has shed light on the practice of cannibalism in Europe approximately 15,000 years ago. Contrary to being driven by necessity, this gruesome act appears to have been an integral part of the culture during that era.

Researchers had previously unearthed evidence of cannibalism in Gough's Cave in England, where they found gnawed bones and human skulls repurposed into cups. However, a new study published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews suggests that such instances were not isolated.

This investigation delved into the Magdalenian period, a late Upper Paleolithic era spanning roughly 11,000 to 17,000 years ago. Scientists from London's National History Museum combed through existing literature to identify 59 Magdalenian sites containing human remains, primarily in France, but also in Germany, Spain, Russia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Portugal.

Out of these sites, researchers were able to analyze the funerary practices at 25 locations. Shockingly, 15 of these sites exhibited clear signs of cannibalism, including human remains with bite marks, skulls with cut marks, and bones deliberately broken to extract bone marrow – a source of nutrition. Furthermore, there were indications that, in some instances, human remains were mixed with those of animals.

The ritualistic handling of human remains at multiple sites across northern and western Europe strongly suggests that cannibalism was not primarily a means to supplement the diet but rather a widespread burial practice within Magdalenian culture.

The study's co-author, Silvia Bello, a paleoanthropologist and principal researcher at the National History Museum, emphasized that cannibalism was not merely a matter of necessity but was undertaken as a funerary practice, marking the oldest evidence of such behavior in this context.

Additionally, the researchers were able to obtain genetic information from eight sites and correlate it with archaeological evidence. They identified two distinct ancestral groups during this period: the Magdalenian culture and the Epigravettian culture, which differed both geographically and culturally.

The study revealed that those from the Magdalenian culture in northwestern Europe practiced cannibalism, while individuals from the Epigravettian culture preferred traditional burial methods without cannibalism. This shift in funerary behavior coincided with the migration of individuals with Epigravettian-related ancestry into regions previously inhabited by people of Magdalenian-related ancestry, who had practiced funerary cannibalism.

William Marsh, a postdoctoral researcher at the museum, explained that this change in behavior was likely due to "demic diffusion," where one population replaces another, leading to a shift in customs.

It's important to note that these findings are preliminary, and further extensive analysis is required to confirm these results. Nevertheless, Thomas Booth, a senior laboratory research scientist at the Francis Crick Institute, who was not involved in the study, expressed that the evidence presented provides compelling support for the practice of ritual funerary cannibalism in Europe between 20,000 and 14,000 years ago.