Paleolithic Cannibalism with Dr. James N. Cole: An Evening with the Ghost of the Prehistoric Past by Simran Kaur Saini

 Cannibalism.

It is, perhaps, that one word that conjures up feelings of dread and repulsion but still keeps one enthralled in its mysteries.  It has been likened to a “grotesque eccentricity” in the popular narrative, its meaning imagined in the tales of Hannibal Lector and Typee, more than often arousing intrigue and a morbid fascination in the society. Humans, you see, are complex, curious creatures who strive to unravel the inexplicable and dive deep into the parts that they relegate to the dark side. We become petrified to tread those dangerous borders between the known and unknown but still do so anyway. The incomprehensible at times becomes sinister to us, making us even more hostile and incredulous to other facets of the same. Just like this word, Cannibalism.

 

Now, you may wonder why am I suddenly starting my own Lore- like the podcast (Ok, fine, maybe a bit. Hey, I absolutely adore that podcast and yes, I am not a secret serial killer in making. I guess). Why am I suddenly shoving in cannibalism into the Speaking Archaeologically chat room? For that, well, you will have to read this blog and experience the most magical, exhilarating evening that I ever had. Amongst the company of our prehistoric ancestors and cannibalism, of course. Oh, and before we proceed, here is a little helpful disclaimer.

 

Warning: Please approach this piece and the subsequent lecture without all the ingrained stereotypes and taboos. Trust me, knowledge will feel super refreshing and liberating then (*insert a cute, polite smiley face *).

 

And, here we go.

 

There I was in my room, ruefully rifling through the memories of the site covers in my mind, something that seemed so out of my reach now. It was a dreary August evening, the air around me echoing the monotony that had consumed my life since the past six months. However, there is always that little spark of light somewhere in the darkness that manages to pull you out of your slumber. For me, that ray of sunshine (quite literally) was that small yet stirring text message on the Research Wing group: “We might be having a lecture with Dr. James Cole on Prehistoric Cannibalism quite soon.” Just that one sentence was enough to elicit a series of emotions within me, a mix of disbelief, ecstasy, and crazed excitement flitting across my face in a span of just a second. The question of cannibalism in prehistory had constantly haunted me since the day I entered college. Faced with dismissive, vague answers, that question slowly faded away from my psyche. Until this very moment that is. It was as if a barrage had been opened the minute Shriya ma’am said: “Come on, let’s dig a little deeper into this topic”. So imagine how gratified I was, eagerly looking forward to somewhat resolve the mystery myself by listening to THE person in Prehistoric Cannibalism, Dr. Cole himself!

Dr. James N. Cole, University of Brighton

Cut to a month later, we had finally managed to control the nervous flutter in our hearts and reached the moment that we had been waiting for since eternity. There, on the screen, was this radiant, welcoming smile greeting us, telling us silently to let go of our inhibitions. Yes, we were finally meeting our most-awaited, special guest of the evening, Dr. Cole! One thing that I was grateful for during the pandemic was the entry of Zoom in our lives (minus the whole onslaught of online classes but well that’s the life of a student for you ). It entailed a bittersweet feeling of course, for we couldn’t be together but we were still, virtually. But most importantly, it facilitated the conduction of this very important lecture which otherwise would have been unfathomable. And yes, I will be overly dramatic and you will know the reason soon enough.  

                                     

 The screen displayed the title, “Paleolithic Cannibalism: Calories or Culture?”, echoing the underlying theme of when do we figure in culture in this deeply embedded historical practice. Culture is indeed a really complex and complicated whole, even more, nebulous and inexplicable when we look at the Paleolithic (A thousand times more complicated than that dreadful trigonometric problem I had to solve in 10^th grade. And here I thought, maths was tough. * sigh *). In order to understand the topic more intricately, especially for people whose minds are boggled up by Prehistory, Dr. Cole in a very lucid and engaging manner tried to explain all the aspects that this topic could entail. And let me tell you this: Prehistory is that vast, never-ending desert where theories and evidence pop up from nowhere and change the whole dynamic completely at the drop of a hat. Exactly like the Army of Anubis that popped up everywhere in Mummy II (if you know me, my blog ain’t complete without a ‘The Mummy’ reference). Nevertheless, moving ahead. We tried (emphasis on tried) placing “us” in the whole timeline that spanned more than a millennium, and said hello to our ancestors and neighbours too in the process; they sort of feeling like those celebrities in a quick meet-and-greet.  

After that, Dr. Cole presented to us the definition of cannibalism that is perceived by us now. But as you know, perceptions are cruelly deceiving. Well, that is one issue that we will return back to later. So on we went, onto the journey tracing the intentions behind cannibalism in the present thought. As we slowly went through each of these (with some very aesthetic pictures of course), my mind couldn’t help but try connecting it some of the incidents that I had heard of recently. Nutritional/ Survival cannibalism took me back to the gruesome yet pitiful Donner Party as well as the infamous ‘Law of the Sea’. Psychotic/ Criminal cannibalism played the memories of that eerie case of Armin Meiwes that I had come across during a quiz. And so on. However, then I also stopped myself, suddenly feeling apprehensive of these modern linkages. Had I, like many others blinded by our own cultural bias, hastened to put labels in order to understand the prehistoric manner in the "usually designed" complex way? Maybe I had. And boy was I glad that this lecture helped me overcome at least a fraction of those biases. 

 

The trajectory of the lecture involved locating the instances of cannibalism in the archaeological record and analyzing the various sites in the question. Dr. Cole, using his recent intensive research on calculating the calorific value of Prehistoric humans, investigated the perpetual rigid classification of nutritional cannibalism and ritual cannibalism in a detailed manner. He depicted how “quantification of cannibalism” could help us break free from these binaries and instead bring forth the varied nature of the motivations. If I have to sum up the intricate research that was undertaken for a layman, it would be something like this:

 

We, humans, are the last recourse for food.

We aren’t ‘good meat’ in terms of nutrition.

We lack calories despite consuming dozens of them ourselves.

 

Funny right?

 

At this juncture, we also came across instances of how cannibalism was constantly being sensationalized by the media, especially once again when Dr. Cole’s paper was published in 2017 (the image of that legendary ‘Sansani’ anchor just came to my mind and well, I cannot not just imagine how this whole trope would have played out here in our country). Though all this might seem funny to us now (I have to admit some of the diagrams were PRETTY HILARIOUS), it uncovers a very pertinent issue, that of the distortion of our understanding of the past and other cultures distinct from our own. A very dangerous thing to do really. Therefore, the next part of the talk involved us endeavouring to place these cannibalistic sites in their appropriate contexts. You may ask how do we do so. Well, we would have appreciated a time machine or a magic potion to transport us back to the Paleolithic, but as they say “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. And so Dr. Cole, very patiently, walked us through the various evidence and scenarios that gave at least some clues about the behavioural aspects of the Hominin groups, in this case, the Neanderthals (and yes, I acknowledge that we really have an eerie obsession with the dear Neanderthals so yeah).

To further comprehend the whole question of cannibalism in a better line, Dr. Cole presented us with an array of research that has taken place on this matter. And when I say an array of research, it was HUGE! Armed with more updated research and other countless theories, thereon, our minds were, even more, fuzzier than before on how to go about interpreting this conundrum of Prehistoric cannibalism. But, strangely, this entire information overload, maybe because it was explained to us in such a coherent and rational manner, was also making perfect sense to us. Confusing, isn’t it? Our tryst with Paleolithic cannibalism did not really end just there. The highlight of the talk came in the form of the Q&A session with Dr. Cole. Let me just say, the questions never ceased to end and nor did our admiration for Dr. Cole. I would say I only grew more awestruck from that moment on.

A very important lesson that I took away from this lecture was how we tend to increasingly simplify the past in order to mould it into our own constructions of reality. Then, seemingly, in this “simplification” of the past, we negate all the complexities of differential unique meanings that prehistoric societies might have held. Simplification just like stereotyping becomes an escape from the unexplainable. And that is something we need to change now. As Dr. Cole said, we need to stop simplifying the past, rather we should start embracing the complexity inherent in it. That way our discipline would become more enriched, and our understanding of the prehistory, more intricately clearer perhaps.

You, my dear audience, must be wondering why did I not tell you the juicy bits of the talk here in this blog? Well, isn’t it always great to discover the magic for yourselves? Yes, yes, yes! The talk will be out soon on our YouTube channel for you all to witness with your very own eyes and ears. I will not be able to do proper justice to the kind of beauty that this lecture was on that splendid Wednesday evening.

What are you waiting for? Go check it out and let the aura of prehistory enchant you!