Page "Cannibalism" Paragraph 10

In 2003 a publication in Science received a large amount of press attention when it suggested that early humans may have practiced extensive cannibalism.

According to this research, genetic markers commonly found in modern humans worldwide suggest that today many people carry a gene that evolved as protection against the brain diseases that can be spread by consuming human brain tissue.

A 2006 reanalysis of the data questioned this hypothesis, as it claimed to have found a data collection bias, which led to an erroneous conclusion.

This claimed bias came from incidents of cannibalism used in the analysis not being due to local cultures, but having been carried out by explorers, stranded seafarers or escaped convicts.

The original authors published a subsequent paper in 2008 defending their conclusions.