Colonial cannibalism at Jamestown in 1610

[Tnmountains]

Not my favorite news source but enjoy their science area on occasion.

CSI Jamestown: Anthropologists lay out evidence of colonial cannibalism - Cosmic Log

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Tnmountains]

I was not sure where to post this where the people interested in history would see it?

 

[jeff of pa]

I suppose this is a good spot, Not sure if it qualifies as Treasure In the News, But
would have worked there too .

I enjoy stories like this.
Better then the white washed everything was "Honky-Dory"
& they all sat around singing kum-bi-ya type fairy tales.

I'd imaging lawlessness & murder were regular occurrences

 

[2screwed]

Very interesting, thanks for posting it. As an interesting side note, I have managed to trace my family's roots back to 1670's Virginia. Not much is known about her except her name was .... Jane.

 

[jeff of pa]

Very interesting, thanks for posting it. As an interesting side note, I have managed to trace my family's roots back to 1670's Virginia. Not much is known about her except her name was .... Jane.

lol well I don't think she ended up a Midnight snack,
if her blood line continued to the 21st century

 

[2screwed]

lol well I don't think she ended up a Midnight snack,
if her blood line continued to the 21st century

LOL No, but my ancestors could have been the ones doing the snacking.

 

[jeff of pa]

LOL No, but my ancestors could have been the ones doing the snacking.

Do you have extra Sharp teeth ?

an irresistible urge to take a bite.... ?

 

[2screwed]

Do you have extra Sharp teeth ?

an irresistible urge to take I bite ?

No, but I truly love a good rump roast.

 

[junkless]

Not sure if this is true, but...

My high school psychology teacher claimed that humans had a cannibalistic tendency. This would manifest itself when one would talk about a baby being cute and "I could just gobble it up". Seemed far fetched to me but he would go into it being an instinctual tendency and we couldn't rationalize why we would want to gobble up or take a bite of a baby.

I know I've heard people say that before but find a hard time believing that scenario

 

[ivan salis]

mote like "history in the news" than treasure in the news -- but to some folks knowing our true "history" is a treasure in itself.

 

[Tnmountains]

Well I have followed the Jamestown artifacts which are a treasure. They were the first artifacts of us here in America and they were stored in a basement at a museum that was flooded. So any new information is worth reading. I do imagine them practicing this it was very common back then in shipping and also seen thousands of times with ancient man. I will look for the section of history in the news,lol when I get off work. I just hate to post it in the everything else section

 

[relicmeister]

Interesting for sure. I remember seeing a documentary video that strongly hypothesized that the Jamestown settlement was in no small part sabotaged using poison by someone loyal to a prominent Englishman ( I don't remember who) that had a strong interest in the Jamestown colonies failure.

 

[Tnmountains]

I do not doubt that. My gut tells me that the start of early colonial history is not as we like to teach in our history books. They tend to want to paint the history books with the broad brush of political correctness. You would never read that it was brutal and cold and people were sick and hungry and snacking on each other to survive.Small community and this could have been an isolated incident. Sometimes we need to re -write history though until we get it correct. Maybe have addendum's to the back of every book

 

[Jimmi]

I was reading about this online, but it makes you wonder. If times became desperate enough that people had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive, why would anyone go after a person's head? What could be more gruesome than that ? That's if we are talking about your average rational non murderous human being. All the cutting and defleshing and the prying of the skull.. OMG ! Take a leg , an Arm ... But why mutilate a humans head to get to the brain...

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Not sure if this is true, but...

My high school psychology teacher claimed that humans had a cannibalistic tendency. This would manifest itself when one would talk about a baby being cute and "I could just gobble it up". Seemed far fetched to me but he would go into it being an instinctual tendency and we couldn't rationalize why we would want to gobble up or take a bite of a baby.
I know I've heard people say that before but find a hard time believing that scenario

It is more than true! You have too understand of food shortage/crop failures,etc was the way off life back in the early 17th century when the colonies started up! When things got bad back then they got really bad.. It was a really rough way of life during that time period and cannibalism took place. The Pilgrims experienced great despair and massive food shortages for several years and what happens when there is no food, no horses/cattle/chicken/grain too eat?? Just a brutal time period.

 

[Tnmountains]

I was reading about this online, but it makes you wonder. If times became desperate enough that people had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive, why would anyone go after a person's head? What could be more gruesome than that ? That's if we are talking about your average rational non murderous human being. All the cutting and defleshing and the prying of the skull.. OMG ! Take a leg , an Arm ... But why mutilate a humans head to get to the brain...

When starving the brain is a cornucopia of protein and carbs and fats. You always ate the brains of any animals killed back then or tanned its hide with it. Every animals brain is the right size to tan itself. They were just trying to survive. All wounds were post mortem . It was a sad situation to be put in I am sure. I think that area was experiencing some weird winters as well. I forgot what I read.

 

[Jimmi]

When starving the brain is a cornucopia of protein and carbs and fats. You always ate the brains of any animals killed back then or tanned its hide with it. Every animals brain is the right size to tan itself. They were just trying to survive. All wounds were post mortem . It was a sad situation to be put in I am sure. I think that area was experiencing some weird winters as well. I forgot what I read.

I do Indeed understand the concept of brains being nutritious ( lol, that sounds horrible ) My grandmom always horrified us kids with cow brain soup they always ate when she was a poor kid growing up. But dang, a young girl's head... I'd rather starve to be honest.

 

[Frankn]

I was reading about this online, but it makes you wonder. If times became desperate enough that people had to resort to cannibalism to stay alive, why would anyone go after a person's head? What could be more gruesome than that ? That's if we are talking about your average rational non murderous human being. All the cutting and defleshing and the prying of the skull.. OMG ! Take a leg , an Arm ... But why mutilate a humans head to get to the brain...

On the island of New Guinea tribes battled and the leader of the winning tribe ate the brain of the leader of the loosing tribe to gain his knowledge.
not pleasant, but a fact. My uncle was stationed there during WWII and they ate his dog!

Maybe this James Town crowd got as desporite as the Donners. Frank...

 

[Jimmi]

On the island of New Guinea tribes battled and the leader of the winning tribe ate the brain of the leader of the loosing tribe to gain his knowledge.
not pleasant, but a fact. My uncle was stationed there during WWII and they ate his dog!

Maybe this James Town crowd got as desporite as the Donners. Frank...<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=789714"/>

My dad adopted a stray when he was overseas during Vietnam , and he had to shoot him before he left...because he knew what they would do to him once he wasn't there to take care of him

 

[Jimmi]

I guess I somehow wanted to imagine that more civilized people couldn't resort to cracking open ones head and eating their brains . I knew about it happening in tribal areas and such , steeped in superstition ,
and I suppose it's easier to write them off as savages. But then if you think about the Salem witch trials ( burning at the stake) and such, there isn't much humans haven't done to one another . It's a weird world we all live in.

And disturbing as it is.... She was dead at the time, presumably from natural causes. I'd still eat tree bark and worms first..