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Nature 407, 74-78 (7 September 2000) | doi:10.1038/35024064; Received 7 March 2000; Accepted 6 June 2000

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Biochemical evidence of cannibalism at a prehistoric Puebloan site in southwestern Colorado

Richard A. Marlar1,2, Banks L. Leonard3, Brian R. Billman3,4, Patricia M. Lambert5 & Jennifer E. Marlar2

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80262, USA
  2. Colorado Archaeological Society, Denver, Colorado 80250, USA
  3. Soil Systems Inc., Phoenix, Arizona 85004, USA
  4. Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
  5. Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA

Correspondence to: Richard A. Marlar1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.A.M. (e-mail: Email: marlarr@den-res.org).

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The existence of cannibalism is one of the most controversial issues in the archaeology of the American Southwest. Disarticulated, cut-marked and heat-altered human remains from non-burial contexts at prehistoric Puebloan (Anasazi) archaeological sites in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest have been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of cannibalism1. Osteological studies indicate that many of the disarticulated bodies found at these sites were processed in a manner consistent with food preparation2. Opponents of this interpretation point out that non-cannibalistic practices such as secondary interment, corpse mutilation and ritualized witch executions might account for the assemblages3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Osteological evidence alone does not document the actual ingestion of human flesh. Here we show consumption of human flesh did occur as demonstrated in preserved human waste containing identifiable human tissue remains from a site with osteological evidence of cannibalism.

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80262, USA
  2. Colorado Archaeological Society, Denver, Colorado 80250, USA
  3. Soil Systems Inc., Phoenix, Arizona 85004, USA
  4. Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
  5. Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA

Correspondence to: Richard A. Marlar1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.A.M. (e-mail: Email: marlarr@den-res.org).