The fact we may find this unpalatable says more about our modern sensibilities than about our forebears.

"Neanderthals met a violent end at our hands and in some cases we ate them."
Fernando Rozzi, Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique

Why not? Just because to our eyes Neanderthals look like us is not to say that earlier Homo sapiens didn't see them as food. If you eat meat you should be prepared to eat any meat, not just the creatures we've stupefied for the purpose. Why is the eating of cow or a pig any more acceptable than dolphin or human? The article refers to the eating of Neanderthals as the socially taboo act of cannibalism. Perhaps we owe the Great Leap Forward that happened around this time to our ancestors eating brains; this act ringing down the millenia in our collective unconscious as our fear of zombies risen to devour us as the Neanderthal was hunted by hungry humans. Comments on this over on BoingBoing.

1 original comment:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1535
Comment by Joe — 10 June, 2009 @ 10:52 pm