"Billman discovered one other significant item, a coprolite - a pile of preserved human fecal matter - in the center of a fireplace. He concluded that after the fire had died, someone had squatted over the hearth and defecated. The coprolite has become a key part of the cannibalism puzzle. It has been analyzed for the presence of human protein, which would prove the ingestion of human flesh. The results are expected to be published this year."
The results are in and the coprolite contained human protein proving Christy Turner's theory. The Indians are mum.
Heard about this. Now Southwestern prehistory is really being reinterpreted. I had always heard about the Anasazi, Sinagua, Fremont, etc. being peaceful yeoman farmers, but I had always wondered why they built "cliff dwellings".
I used to figure it was because of the Apaches and Navajos, but those groups really came in from the northeast not more than 50-100 years before the Spanish.
Now they're looking at the role of Mesoamericans in founding Chaco (the Mayas and Toltecs practiced ritual cannibalism at that time) and the role of warfare in the disintegration of the Anasazi civilization.
I hope to read a book called Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest, by Steven LeBlanc. He and Turner are really responsible for this reinterpretation.
A question: would things like biting the inside of your lips or sucking the blood from a wound to prevent infection put human (your own) protein in your stool? I suspect the answer is yes, but not in the amounts found, but I'm still curious.