CANNIBALISM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CANNIBALISM - Essay Example In two fascinating articles on the subject, Billman, et al, and Dongoske, et al, explore these questions. In Billman's article, the archaeologists explored a site in Colorado, dating from about one thousand years ago. The authors describe the sites in detail and provide maps. A number of items were uncovered including tools. But the main discoveries are a number of disarticulated human bones consistent with the practice of cannibalization. A human coprolite also suggested that the people at the site had been consuming human flesh. The authors are careful to distinguish between different types of cannibalism. They carefully describe both: [I]n situ floor deposit sites and secondary deposit sites, might represent victim and perpetrator communities. At victim sites, villagers were killed, processed, and probably at least partially consumed. At perpetrator sites, captives and body parts would have been brought back, consumed, and then disposed of in a manner similar to routine food refus e. If in situ deposit sites and secondary deposit sites do represent victim and perpetrator sites, then high ratio of victim to perpetrator sites (8 to 1) in the Mesa Verde region suggests that cannibalism never became a multigenerational and institutionalized practice (Billman, et al, 2000).