title: Intergroup cannibalism in the European Early Pleistocene: the range expansion and imbalance of power hypotheses.
abstract: In this paper, we compare cannibalism in chimpanzees, modern humans, and in archaeological cases with cannibalism inferred from evidence from the Early Pleistocene assemblage of level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). The cannibalism documented in level TD6 mainly involves the consumption of infants and other immature individuals. The human induced modifications on Homo antecessor and deer remains suggest that butchering processes were similar for both taxa, and the remains were discarded on the living floor in the same way. This finding implies that a group of hominins that used the Gran Dolina cave periodically hunted and consumed individuals from another group. However, the age distribution of the cannibalized hominins in the TD6 assemblage is not consistent with that from other cases of exo-cannibalism by human/hominin groups. Instead, it is similar to the age profiles seen in cannibalism associated with intergroup aggression in chimpanzees. For this reason, we use an analogy with chimpanzees to propose that the TD6 hominins mounted low-risk attacks on members of other groups to defend access to resources within their own territories and to try and expand their territories at the expense of neighboring groups.
authors.affiliation: IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Unit Associated to CSIC, C/Marcel.lí Domingo s/n-Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain. psaladie@iphes.cat
authors.forename: Palmira
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saladié
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huguet
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Hidalgo
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cáceres
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esteban-Nadal
authors.forename: Juan Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arsuaga
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bermúdez de Castro
authors.forename: Eudald
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carbonell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D001842:Bone and Bones; D002190:Cannibalism; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D013030:Spain