[mazter]

Cannibalism, the eating of human body parts, has been around for a long time, in a lot of places:.

At an increasing number of archeological sites in several parts of the world, butcher marks are being found on human remains..

After battle, the Spartans licked blood from their swords..

In an undetermined number of tribal cultures, winners ate losers after battles..

In New Guinea, the meat of white people was called "long pig."

The Aztecs used cannibalism in human-sacrifice rituals..

Human body parts played a significant role in European medicine 400 years ago.

As the Aztec example indicates, the majority of cannibal stories grew from the upsurge of European global exploration. As Europeans looked for new lands to conquer and "civilize," they brought back tales of "savages," "cannibals" and similar do-no-goods.

By the 19th century, the archetypal image of cannibalism was missionaries boiling in a giant stewpot.

Dinner for the tribe may be the stereotype. But the actual extent of cannibalism is hotly debated by archeologists and ethnologists (students of human social behavior). Rather than simple savagery, they have suggested that cannibalism can be:

A search for protein: In areas with scanty diets, human flesh was the ultimate Big Snack.

A search for nutrition. When you (like the Donner party in the Sierra Nevada in 1846-7) are stranded, you may decide to eat the dead rather than join them.

Transforming energy. The cannibal gathers the life force of the deceased by eating him.

Aggression. Once you eat your enemy, you both know it: He's dead