Early settlers resorted to cannibalism at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, researchers said after unveiling forensic analysis on the bones of a 14-year-old girl.
Facing a period of starvation in the winter of 1609 to 1610 when about 80 percent of the colonists died, some apparently tried to dig into the brain of a child who had already died, said anthropologists at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The girl’s skull showed signs of awkward attempts to extract the brain matter, said Douglas Owsley, the Smithsonian forensic anthropologist who analyzed the skull and tibia of the girl who came to Virginia from England.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
“The bone fragments have unusually patterned cuts and chops that reflect tentativeness, trial and complete lack of experience in butchering animal remains,” said Owsley. “Nevertheless, the clear intent was to dismember the body, removing the brain and flesh from the face for consumption.”
The bones were excavated in 2012, and were considered unusual because of the high degree of fragmentation. The girl’s teeth and parts of her skull were found as part of an excavation that included butchered horse and dog bones.
The remains provide the first physical evidence that cannibalism did occur at Jamestown.
(AFP)
研究人員在公開一名十四歲女孩的骨骸法醫鑑識後表示，美國第一個英國人永久屯墾區詹姆斯敦的早期移民，藉由食人存活。
在一六○九至一六一○年冬季約百分之八十移民者死亡的饑荒時期，一些人顯然嘗試挖開一名已故孩子的腦部，史密森國家自然史博物館的人類學家說。
這女孩的頭骨顯示希冀抽取腦部物體的尷尬意圖，分析這位從英國來到維吉尼亞的女孩，其頭骨與脛骨的史密森刑事人類學家奧斯利說。
「骨頭碎塊有異常的切割與劈痕，反應出遲疑、試驗性與全然欠缺支解動物遺體的經驗，」奧斯利說。「然而，明顯的意圖應是分屍，從臉部取出腦與肉以攝食。」
這些骨頭在二○一二年被挖掘出來，由於高度破碎而被認為不尋常。女孩的牙齒與部分頭骨在包括遭屠宰的馬、狗骨骸的一個出土區中被發現。
這些遺骸為詹姆斯敦曾發生吃人事件提供第一個物證。
（法新社／翻譯：魏國金）
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