Endocannibalism (from Greek Endo- "internal" or "from within" and cannibalism) is the term which describes the practice of eating dead members of one's own culture, tribe or social group. The practice may have a variety of purposes, including an attempt to absorb the characteristics of the deceased, the belief that by eating human flesh there is a regeneration of life after death,[1] the incorporation of the spirit of the dead into living descendants, or to ensure the separation of the soul from the body.
Contents |
Some Indigenous Australians performed such practices as acts of respect for the dead person (presumably as a sign of the dead person's worth),[2] as well as some Native American cultures such as the Mayoruna people.[3] Ya̧nomamö consumed the ground-up bones and ashes of cremated kinsmen in an act of mourning. This is still classified as endocannibalism, although, strictly speaking, "flesh" is not eaten.[4] The Aghoris of northern India consume the flesh of the dead floated in the Ganges in pursuit of immortality and supernatural powers.[5]
Such practices were generally not believed to have been driven by need for protein or other food.[3]
Kuru is an incurable prion disease that causes neurological deterioration.[6] It spread through the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea, who ate the brains of their deceased relatives, especially affecting the woman and children.[7] The Kuru epidemic, which is recorded to have begun in the 1920s, is believed to have been started by the consumption of a single individual with Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, which then spread through the population. Oral history records that cannibalism began within the Fore in the late 19th century. Cannibalistic practices were largely eliminated as Australian law enforcement and Christian missionaries spread through the island in the mid 20th century, though the long incubation period of the disease meant cases occurred into the 1990s.[8]
A team led by Michael Alpers, a lifelong investigator of the Kuru disease,[9] found genes that protect against similar prion diseases were widespread around the world, indicating that such endocannibalism was once common around the world.[8][10]