Study coauthor José María Bermúdez de Castro, of the National Research Center on Human Evolution, said that marks near the base of some skulls hint that the diners decapitated humans to get the brain goodness inside. "Probably then they cut the skull for extracting the brain…. The brain is good for food."
西班牙“国家人类进化研究中心”研究人员之一的卡斯特罗称头颅底部的刻纹显示这些人曾经被割去了头颅以便食人者从中取得营养骨髓。“也许他们当时是为了人脑才砍头。人脑是相当好的食物。”
The researchers believe that eating other humans wasn't a big deal back then, and probably wasn't linked to religious rituals or marked by elaborate ceremonies. They draw that conclusion from the fact that butchered human bones were tossed in the scrap heap along with animal remains.
研究人员认为远古时代食人并不是什么严重的事情,而且很可能不具有宗教意义。他们之所以得出这个结论,是因为人类骸骨与动物残骸被丢在了一起。
There is some debate as to how frequently human was on the menu, but these researchers note that the Sierra de Atapuerca region had a great climate and that cannibalism didn't likely result from a lack of alternatives.
也有人指出,同类相食并不常见,除非饥饿难耐。但研究人员称格兰多利纳洞穴附近区域气候适宜,食物资源丰富,所以远古人类不太可能因为缺少选择而去食用同类。