Survival Cannibalism

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Today anthropologists have been studying the past of cannibalism for years. Despite evidence across the world and in our DNA, many anthropologist have refute this, saying there is no physical evidence people were eaten. Meaning nobody has ever seen it happen. With the help of new technology, anthropologists have been able debunk this mystery. To start off, first understand reasons why it happens. The most common ones are survival cannibalism and cannibalism as psychopathology. Survival cannibalism is the consumption of others under certain conditions for survival. These occur during “shipwreck, military siege, and famine”(Thinking About Cannibalism), usually when a person is driven to live. An example case would be the Donner Party, “caught …show more content…
Examination showed cuts on bones and testing revealed “traces of human blood on two stone cutting tools.”(Natural born cannibals) Marlar’s team also found human faeces to test for a protein myoglobin,”a protein found only in skeletal and cardiac muscle cells, where it is used to store and transport oxygen.”(Natural born cannibals) The blood found on the pots and pans were also tested for the protein. Their test revealed the human protein, myoglobin, was found. The question of “had it been eaten” was proven correct. On top of this a disease called Kuru, a fatal brain disease, was shown in people of “Fore from the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea.”(Natural born cannibals) It was believed the cause of it was mortuary feasts, the eating of the deceased. It was outlawed in the 1950’s, but as a result of the long tradition, there was mass death in the Fore population. Luckily another team led by Collinge found “evidence that, over time, the human body has begun to counteract the ill effects of cannibalism.” The disease was caused by “a priori — an abnormal protein gene that's missing a nucleic acid.” (Taking a bite out of life) Nucleic acid is the base of a protein, it determines what protein is being made. These infect the brain cells, killing off cells and eventually spreading throughout the body. Collinge and his team “studied 30 women who had participated in the Fore mortuary feasts, he found that 23 of them had a gene mutation protecting them against kuru”(taking a bite out of life) These are good mutations that happen when a species evolves to survive. In short, there is a protein, that generations of people carry, that's resistant to the disease Kuru. Marlar’s team tested several ethnic groups for the protein and found “all human populations have inbuilt
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