Free Republic

In the 1990s, the remains of six Neanderthals -- two adults, two adolescents and two children -- were found in a small cave at Baume Moula-Guercy in the Rhône valley in southern France. The bones bear many of the hallmarks of cannibalism: cut marks made by stone tools, complete dismemberment of the individuals, and finger bones that look as if they've been gnawed by Neanderthal teeth, rather than by other carnivores. Remains from other sites in Croatia, Spain and Belgium also show evidence of cannibalism. But in each case, there has been a lack of evidence to answer the question...

In France, the Bell Beaker period lasted from around 2500 to 1800 BCE... But ceramics from as far back as the middle Neolithic -- around 5500 BCE -- and as recently as the Iron Age -- around 1000 BCE -- have also been found at the site... James and colleagues date a further eight individuals, using teeth from seven adults and one child. [Six of the teeth were from the Bell Beaker period, but one was much older -- dating to between 3650 and 3522 BCE -- and one much younger -- from 1277 to 1121 BCE... It's not known...

In two previous studies, researchers analyzed isotopes (an element that has a different number of neutrons than normal in its nucleus) in the women's remains, so they could piece together where the women had lived. But now, new research finds that these analyses were likely contaminated by modern agricultural lime... However, the researchers of the original studies are standing by their work... Both Bronze Age women are well known by archaeologists; the remains of Egtved Girl (the possible priestess) and Skrydstrup Woman were found in Denmark in 1921 and 1935, respectively. More recently, the Freis and their colleagues found that...