3 ms·
Indeed; while it’s great that they did isotopic analysis of the teeth, bone sections, particularly the long bones of adolescents, would reveal if a starvation e
by madaxe_again 2y ago
Indeed; while it’s great that they did isotopic analysis of the teeth, bone sections, particularly the long bones of adolescents, would reveal if a starvation event was ongoing at the time, and would at least rule out starvation cannibalism, which they hypothesise as possible but unlikely, although don’t give a reason beyond the presence of cattle for it being unlikely.
What if, for instance, they were all dropping dead of some pestilence, and it’s been a bitter winter and a late spring, and you’re short on labour, and your little society is collapsing and protein is scarce.
I don’t know. Hard decisions have been made many times through history.
- potato3732842 2y agoStarvation would hit other demographic first and harder. The very young and very old would be heavily represented instead. If you're gonna kill people for food teenagers will be the last people you'll kill due to resources invested in them ant potential future yields. You're gonna kill 5yos or something.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoI think you are making a ton of assumptions about the hypothetical starvation event. First, if you are killing people for food, you are going to take what you can get. This might be the neighboring tribe of all ages, as described in the article.