Whoa: Early American Settlers Ate Each Other
New archeological and forensic anthropological evidence shows that early English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, dined on the other-other white meat for survival. The winter of 1609-1610 was a pretty horrible time to be a resident of Jamestown, the early English settlement in what is now coastal Virginia. How horrible? Aside from the rampant disease, the starvation, and attacks by surrounding native tribes, people were also EATING EACH OTHER. So confirms new forensic evidence found at the Jamestown settlement site. Written accounts of the so-called Starving Time claimed that Jamestown settlers resorted to cannibalism to survive, but this is the first forensic corroboration of it. Scientists working with Bill Kelso, director of archeology for the Jamestown Recovery project, uncovered partial human remains -- a mutilated skull and a disarticulated leg -- in a midden heap mingled among the butchered remains of horses and dogs. Suspicious markings on the bones suggested that this body...