February 28, 2001

9:59 AM

Mmmmm. Hu-ming. A British archaeologist finds evidence that cannibalism still existed amongst the Celts as recently as two thousand years ago, during Roman Times.

One grisly find includes a femur which had been split lengthways in order to scrape the marrow out. Tastemungus mates :)
posted by zeoslap (6 comments total)

I spot a cheap Hannibal-zeitgeist cash-in...
posted by CatherineB at 10:28 AM on February 28, 2001

So? Máori - the original inhabitants of New Zealand - ate others until 200 years ago.
posted by holloway at 2:24 PM on February 28, 2001

Cannibalism has been reported in New Guinea as recently as the early 1960's, and is one of the supposed causes of Michael Rockefeller's death.
posted by megnut at 4:31 PM on February 28, 2001

Other objects found at the dig site include the remains of a plate of fava beans, and a nice chianti.
posted by Optamystic at 8:17 PM on February 28, 2001

> Cannibalism ... is one of the supposed causes
> of Michael Rockefeller's death.

Ha! You mean being eaten by cannibals was just one of the things that killed him? That Rocky was one tough bird.
posted by pracowity at 12:09 AM on March 1, 2001

Yep, megnut: Papua New Guinea outlawed cannibalism very recently, for medical reasons, as ingestion of brain matter contributed to a virulent "sleeping sickness" akin to CJD/mad cow disease.

[A political aside: the idea that a coherent "Celtish" civilisation existed in pre-Roman times is, itself, an 18th-century invention, created as a response to the attempts of the "British" (ie English) state to supress Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalism.]
posted by holgate at 12:42 AM on March 1, 2001