导读:食人族真的存在吗？从现有的一些证据看来，这好像是事实，但是仍然有待确认。
about 15,000 years ago in Gough’s Cave, near Bristol in the UK, a group of people ate parts of each other.
大约15000多年前，靠近英国布里斯托尔附近的高夫山洞里，有一群人，互相食用对方的身体。
They de-fleshed and disarticulated the bones, then chewed and crushed them. They may also have cracked the bones to extract the marrow inside.
他们剥皮脱骨，咀嚼并且粉碎它们。他们还粉碎骨骼，提取里面的骨髓。
It was not only adults that showed signs of being eaten. A three-year-old child and two adolescents all had the tell-tale marks of being nibbled on.
迹象表明，不仅成人食人。就连三岁的儿童和两个青少年身上都有咬痕。
Some of their skulls were even modified into ornaments called "skull cups", which may have been used to drink out of.
他们的一些头骨甚至被装饰为“头骨杯”，这可能曾经是杯子。
What was going on in Gough’s Cave? Was this an example of human violence between rivals, a strange kind of ritual behaviour, or simply a desperate bid for survival?
高夫山洞里到底发生了什么？这是人类对手之间暴力的范例吗？是一种奇怪的仪式行为，还是为了绝望求生？
Gough’s Cave was first excavated in the late 1880s. However, at the time it was intended for tourists, so there was no careful archaeological analysis. Any fossils found could well have been lost.
上世纪90年代末，首次发现高夫山洞，那个时候，主要为了让游客参观，所以没有进行细致的考古分析。所有发现的化石已经丢失了。
It was another round of excavations in the 1980s that uncovered numerous human and animal remains, with clear signs of butchery. After extensive analysis over the following decades, researchers concluded that the human bones from this cave were cannibalised.
20世纪80年代，二次勘探进行，发现大量人类和动物遗物，上面有清晰的屠宰痕迹。经过几十年的详细分析，研究人员得出结论，这个山洞的人骨是被同类食用过的。
Gough’s Cave is far from a lone instance. Evidence for cannibalistic behaviour goes back to at least as far as the Neanderthals – and possibly earlier.
高夫山洞是一个个例。食人行为的证据可以至少追溯到尼安德特人-也许更早。
The first evidence that Neanderthals possibly munched on their friends (or enemies) was found in France and dates from about 100,000 years ago. There are several other cases. One Neanderthal group, which lived in a cave in northern Spain 49,000 years ago, appears to have been cannibalised. Bones from a cave in Belgium also show signs that another group ate each other, according to a study published in July 2016.
首个尼安德特人食用朋友的证据，大约100000多年前在法国发现。还有一些其他的例证。一个49000多年前住在西班牙北部的尼安德特人群体，似乎已经开始食用同类。据2016年7月的一份研究，来自比利时洞穴的骨头，也显示出其他群体在食用同类。
Cannibalism is a topic that has sat uncomfortably with anthropologists. In part, that may be because it serves as a reminder of the dark, gruesome side of human nature. But it is also difficult to unambiguously identify.
对人类学家来说，食人是一个不舒服的话题。这可能部分由于，食人是对人性阴暗、可怕一面的提醒。但这也难以明确地辨认。
In particular, it is difficult to tell whether cut marks come from cannibalism or from the removal of flesh from bones after death, which is occasionally done for ritual purposes.
辨认割痕是否来自同类食人或者是死尸的肉，更难，后者有时用于仪式目的。
