July
25
/ 2025
A chilling discovery at Spain's Atapuerca archaeological site has revealed new evidence of systematic cannibalism among our earliest European ancestors. Researchers have uncovered an 850,000-year-old human cervical vertebra belonging to a child aged between two and four years, bearing unmistakable cut marks indicating deliberate decapitation. The find, recovered from the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, provides direct evidence that Homo antecessor practiced cannibalism on children as part of routine meat exploitation strategies. In a press release, Dr. Palmira Saladié, a researcher with IPHES-CERCA and co-coordinator of the Gran Dolina excavations, described the significance of this dark discovery: "This case is particularly impactful: not only due to the child's age, but also due to the precision of the
