Cut and impact marks indicating cannibalism on various human parts of the skeleton from the Maszycka Cave. Credit: Antonio Rodrguez-Hidalgo IAM (CSIC-Junta de Extremadura)ShareThe Lascaux cave paintings are some of the most famous examples of Paleolithic artwork. Created by the Magdalenians, a late Ice Age society that lived in central Europe between 20,000 and 14,500 years ago, the images ofanimals and plants highlight just how long humans have documented the world around them. But based on recent archeological research, at least some Magdalenian groups also engaged in a gorier pastime: cannibalism.The evidence, detailed in a study published earlier this month in Scientific Reports, was gathered by an international team of researchers working at the Maszycka Cave in Poland. Discovered over a century ago, the late Upper Paleolithic archeological site included stone and bone tools, evidence of hunted Ice Age animals, as well as human skeletal remains. Additional excavation work during the 1960s culminated in a total of 63 bones from 10 Magdalenians dated around 18,000 years old.The entrance to the Maszycka Cave in southern Poland. Credit: Darek Bobak Beginning in the 1990s, some experts theorized that the cut marks on skulls and shattered long bone remnants suggested evidence of cannibalism. Later analysis, however, contended funerary practices accounted for the damage. But after the latest round of taphonomic analysis (the study of decaying organisms), a group led by archeologists at Germanys University of Gttingen believes the original theory was correct all along. And they have the gruesome evidence to show for it.After examining the bone fragments using microscopic tools, the team explained the cuts and scrape marks connect them to activities performed during the butchering process, such as skinning, evisceration, defleshing and disarticulation or dismemberment. In particular, 36 bone fragments from multiple bodies displayed evidence of Magdalenians being dissected immediately after their deaths. As for the smashed bits, the breakage is associated with the removal of the marrow in the long bones and the brain in skulls for consumption.Human remains found in the Maszycka Cave dating from 18,000 years ago. Credit: ntonio Rodrguez-Hidalgo IAM (CSIC-Junta de Extremadura) It gets darker. Given what experts already know about Magdalenian life during the Upper Paleolithic, it seems unlikely these acts of cannibalism were only conducted when food was scarce. In the end, it all goes back to the Lascaux cave paintings.The wide range of artistic evidence points to favorable living conditions during this period, Thomas Terberger, a study co-author and professor in the University of Gttingens Department of Prehistory and Early History, said in a statement. It therefore seems unlikely that cannibalism was practiced out of necessity.Instead, its possible the cannibalism was a violent culmination of conflict. Get the Popular Science newsletter By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.After the last Ice Age, there was population growth, and that may have led to conflicts over resources and territories, added study first author Francesc Marginedas at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution.Marginedas pointed to isolated incidents of similar cannibalism connected to fighting elsewhere. And then theres the simple fact of where the Maszycka Cave bones were discovered.Human remains were found mixed with settlement debris in the Maszycka Cave, which indicates that the dead were not treated with respect, said Marginedas.