November
22
/ 2025
A chilling discovery in the depths of Belgium's Goyet caves has revealed that Neanderthals engaged in selective cannibalism approximately 45,000 years ago, deliberately targeting gracile women and children from rival groups. New research published in the journal Scientific Reports provides the most comprehensive evidence yet of inter-group violence among Late Pleistocene Neanderthal populations, painting a grim picture of competition and conflict during a critical period in human prehistory. The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, examined the skeletal remains of at least six individuals discovered in the Troisième caverne of Goyet in Belgium. What makes this assemblage particularly disturbing is not just the evidence of cannibalism, but the demographic pattern of the victims. Four of the individuals were
