Recently, a tibia fossil from the early Pleistocene was found to have butchery marks. These are the only cut marks identified on an early Pleistocene postcranial hominin fossil to date. Researchers have gone to great lengths to examine these cuts and determine their origin.
In order to analyze the cuts, researchers used a dental molding material to make a mold of the cuts. From there, researchers compared them to a database of 898 tooth, butchery, and trample marks made in a controlled environment. The bone contains 11 cuts. They found that 9 of the cuts were likely from stone tools while the other two were bite marks. The bite marks seem to match those of modern lions. Although, researchers did not have a sample of human bite marks to compare against (Smithsonian, 2023).
It is impossible to tell the exact cause of death from the cuts. Although, we do have a few clues. The location of the cut marks indicates that there was flesh still on the bone when they were made. The tooth marks are also in a different area than the stone tool marks. So, either the hominin was killed by the tiger and then hominins came in and cut up the rest or the hominins made the kill and the tiger ate the leftovers (Pobiner, 2023).
It’s unclear whether or not this is a case of cannibalism. The marks from the stone tools are in the precise area to cut off a meaty chunk of the calf. There are a few places of doubt. Firstly, cannibalism is defined as someone eating a member of their own species, but in our scenario the species of both the cutter and cutted are unknown. Also, there is a chance that these cuts were made recently although the researchers note this is unlikely as the color of the cuts match the color of the bone almost exactly (Pobiner).
Regardless, this 1.45 Ma fossil provides a glimpse into the last moments of a person long gone.
Pobiner, B., Pante, M. & Keevil, T. Early Pleistocene cut marked hominin fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Sci Rep 13, 9896 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35702-7
Smithsonian. (2023, June 26). Humans’ evolutionary relatives butchered one another 1.45 million years ago: Cut marks on a fossil leg bone belonging to a relative of modern humans were made by stone tools and could be evidence of cannibalism. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 24, 2023 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230626163847.htm
Evolutionary Anthropology 