ব্রেকিং নিউজ: ইউরোপীয়রা মানুষখেকো ছিলো?

The "intentionally mutilated" remains included children and even unborn babies, the researchers say.

Dr Boulestin said the human remains had been "intentionally mutilated" and that there was evidence many of them had been chewed.

"We see patterns on the bones of animals indicating that they have been spit-roasted," he said. "We have seen some of these same patterns on the human bones [at this site]."

But Dr Boulestin stressed it was difficult to prove that these bones had been deliberately cooked.

"Human sacrifice at Herxheim is a hypothesis that's difficult to prove right now, but we have evidence that several hundred people were eaten over a brief period," Boulestin says. Skeletal markings indicate that human bodies were butchered in the same way as animals
Damage typical of animal butchery appears on the bones, including that produced by a technique to separate the ribs from the spine, according to the scientists.

Heads were skinned and muscles removed from the brain case in order to remove the skullcap. Incisions and scrapes on jaws indicate that tongues were cut out.

Scrape marks inside the broken ends of limb bones indicate that marrow was removed.

"People most likely made the chewing marks found near intentionally broken ends of hand and arm bones," Boulestin said.

"Ongoing work at Herxheim has found signs of cannibalism on the bones of hundreds of other individuals, with only a few exceptions," he added.