Associate Press Video: Conviction Overturned in Cop Cannibal Case
USA Today Article: ‘Cannibal Cop’ freed after conviction overturned
Can we have a say in whether cannibalism is ethical or not?
Cannibalism has been an extremely controversial topic for centuries. Many don’t even feel comfortable talking about the topic. Cannibalism is usually judged and looked down upon harshly by most of the world. The only time it is really accepted by the modern world is in times of extreme survival and only if the person who is consumed was not killed with the intention of consummation. If a person kills someone else to consume them to stay alive in an extreme survival case then it is thought of as murder. Among remote parts of the world, cannibalism is practiced as a ritual and is accepted and even sometimes thought of as necessary. There are two forms of cannibalism, Endocannibalism which is the practice of consuming members of your own family or tribe, and Exocannibalism which is the practice of consuming people outside of your family or tribe, generally your enemies. With these two types, we can begin to discuss the ethics of each type as well as clarify the distinction between the two.
For many who have not studied the rituals of cannibalism, all they know is what they’re shown in the movies. Cannibals are always portrayed as the savages and the villain coated with thick layers of inaccuracy and racism, but that is another discussion. These accounts of cannibalism represent exocannibalism. And exocannibalism, which is very real, has spurred many an ethical debate about whether it’s should be tolerated within religious practices. In a Western Americanized culture, it is important that when looking at these cases, we access adopt a transnational lense in which to approach these topics with an open mind. In an article written by Robyn Neufeldt of the University of Manitoba titled, Biasing Cannibalism in Anthropology, the Anasazi tribe is used to demonstrate a form of exocannibalism in which their practices were used as a method of instilling fear in their enemies. “In order to survive, those immigrants (the Anasazi) implemented the practices as a means of intimidation and social control.” Or you could compare this to the Aztecs who believed that act of eating an enemies heart, was the ultimate way in which to prevent regeneration of their family. (Washington) So, though it seems these cases may be justified, can we consider it to be ethical? From that same Western Americanized cultural viewpoint, it would be assumed that we could say, “no, it is not ethical.”
In our culture, no matter the situation, killing people is wrong and the desecration of a corpse by consumption would add insult to injury. We believe that despite our preconceived idea of what is or isn’t ethical, it is up for individual speculation based on personal opinion.
Endocannibalism is a form in which many cultures hold very close in the practices of saying, “Goodbye,” to their loved ones. But the use of endocannibalism isn’t only reserved for saying goodbye to their family members. For instance, the Aztecs used to have a practice in which they would use the sacrifice and cannibalization of family members in order to insure timely fertility of crops and fields. (Washington) This obviously has many different ways to be analyzed or interpreted because every culture will see this with a different lens and a different point of view.
Works Cited:
Washington, Julie. “The Magical Power of Cannibalism.” 2012. Crossroads. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 46-57. Print. An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics.
Neufeldt, Robyn. “Biasing Cannibalism in Anthropology.” academia.edu. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.academia.edu/3125825/Biasing_Cannibalism_in_Anthropology>.
http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/june-2011/article/cannibalism-in-the-american-southwest
Man Corn
The book “Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest” was wrote by Christy G. Turner II and Jacqueline A. Turner in 1999. In the five chapters that this book spans, Turner outlines the gruesome truth about the practices carried out by the people of the American Southwest. Cannibalism was practiced in the Four Corners region of The United States, specifically Chaco Canyon, since 900 A.D. but the practice originated in Mexico. (Turner 2) Many people had previously thought that the native people were generally peaceful and had no history of violence. The first chapter of this book gives an introduction of the area of focus and states the newly found truth and explains what “Cannibalism” is. An interesting fact can be found on page three and Turner quotes Fernández from 1992 “ Indeed, the title for this book comes from Nahuatl (Aztec) word tlacaatlaolli, “man corn,” a “sacred meal of sacrificed human meat, cooked with corn”.
(Man Corn book cover)
Interpreting Human Bone Damage: Taphonomic, Ethnographic, and Archaeological Evidence is the title of the second chapter. There are many different ways that a person can determine a cause of death of a human by just looking at their bones. For example we can tell if a person was consumed by another human by looking for three distinct characteristics. First, if marks on the bones match those of large or small animals used for in hunting game. This can indicate that the person might had been prepared for consumption. Second, we compare the bones to others to make sure that it wasn’t environmental factors or other animals that caused these marking. And Lastly, we would compare the human bones to those of another, cannibalised remains will look nothing like those that were buried. All of these will fall under the word Taphonomy, or death history. (Turner 10)
Man Corn’s third chapter is titled Taphonomic Evidence for Cannibalism and Violence in the American Southwest: Seventy-Six Sites. This very long and detailed section gives data, analysis, statistics, and comparisons of all individuals found in the American South that showed cannibalism. (Turner 55) Below are some picture of sites were cannibal remains have been found.
(Pueblo Bonito) (Site from Chaco Canyon)
After the listings Turner’s next chapter talks about comparative evidence. Here they write about comparing human remains that were believed to have been consumed, to bones from Aztecs in mexico who have been know to consume their dead. Turner starts the chapter by giving a very detail and morbid account from Fray Bernardino de Sahagún from 1529 about how the aztecs sacrificed their people and captives. They then go on to comparing cut marks on bones and bone fragments. Turner then concludes the book with a final summary of cannibalism for her last chapter. Man Corn is a very interesting read and I have personally gained a lot of info out of it. I wish I could relay all of the interesting things I have learned in this summary.
Bibliography:
Turner, Christy G., and Jacqueline A. Turner. Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence
in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Salt Lake City: U of Utah P, 1999.
Anasazi Tribe Cannibalism
Ever since anthropologist and archaeologists started studying the American Southwest, no one has ever thought of the native peoples as being cannibals until just recently. The Anasazi people occupied the four corners region of the American Southwest and were believed to have started the practice about 1100 years ago. Now it is a very strong claim to say that a group of people were cannibals and researchers avoid using the term unless undeniable and undisputed proof can be made. When researchers look at human remains they look for specific traits to tell how the individual had died. To present strong evidence that a group of people practiced cannibalism, we need to look for these six key features in the remains found, these include Breaking, Pot Polish, Burn Marks, Chop Marks, Cut Marks, and Scrapemarks. The reasons why we look for these features is because they are very similar to the traits found on game animals that are butchered and cooked.
Another way to find evidence for cannibalism is by testing fossilized fecal matter. When fossilized fecal matter is discovered, it can be chemically analysed to discover what the person has had been eating. You can tell there are signs of cannibalism if you find human hemoglobin in the feces. For the Anasazi tribe specifically, when their fecal matter was tested, many came up positive for containing human hemoglobin and human proteins. This is alarming to many scientists because there is evidence that the Anasazi tribe was not lacking in food supply and signs of very little warfare. This means that the Anasazi were not practicing cannibalism in order to survive. There must have been other reasons.
(Enter Haley’s section)
Anthropologists are very split one way or the other on the theory that the Anasazi were actually practicing cannibalism. These researchers are going off the fact that it doesn’t make any sense. Eating people is not part of modern pueblo practice in today’s world and there have been other explanations for what looks like proof of cannibalism. Some researchers are saying the same evidence that is being used to validate theories on cannibalism can also attribute to witch executions. All of this being said it is important to realize that many people are uncomfortable with the idea of cannibalism and rightfully so, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We have to realize that it was a different culture back then and that just because cannibalism is culturally unacceptable today does not mean that it was an issue back then. It was probably even culturally accepted.
Works Cited:
Dold, Catherine. “American Cannibal.” Discover 19.(1998): 64-69. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Marston, Wendy. “Secrets Of The Dead.” Discover 21.5 (2000): 84-86. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
Zuni Witchcraft
When it comes to witchcraft, many people think of the Salem witch trials in the late 1600’s. However, witchcraft is prominent in the history of the American southwest. One of the first things that stood out to us, was the obvious difference between males and females executed for witchcraft. So often when we think of witchcraft, we picture the women in Salem from the 1600’s getting hanged, but in different cultures, witchcraft isn’t always treated the same.
For example, the Zuni tribe is heavily involved in witchcraft and believes that two witches created the world through death and corn. Death, to control the population and corn, to feed the people. In our research on the Zuni tribe and their practices with witchcraft, we came across a very interesting document that sparked all of our interests. In a research article entitled, “Mass Inhumation and the Execution of Witches in the American Southwest,” written by J. Andrew Darling, we discovered our first findings regarding the Zuni tribe and their beliefs on witchcraft. In this article, there are records of 22 different trials of witchcraft held by the Zuni. The pictures below detail of each the individual cases:
To understand the witch trials held by the Zuni we must know that the Zuni view witches as ordinary people; that they live and work beside them but are on this earth for a different purpose. They must constantly consume or capture the lives and or souls of the living in order to exist. Because of their constant need to kill, the Zuni use the “witches” as a scapegoat and blame them for most disasters. At one point, witchcraft was the only recognized crime in the Zuni culture.
When a person is accused of witchcraft, a council of High Priests review any evidence of the accused and determine whether or not they are a witch. If convicted, the bow priests would then be tasked with the execution of the witch. During the Zuni witch trials, there was a focus on confessions. These confessions were not only used to find guilt in the accused witch, but in a large amount of cases also used to find the witch’s knowledge because they believed that once the knowledge was known that it became less powerful. Also, the priests who were doing the confessions were sometimes seeking the information to further themselves personally. Sometimes the individual is released if they are willing to reform or give away their ritual knowledge. One of the primary goals of the priests is to find other witches, because back then, witches were believed to perform in a witch society comprised of multiple witches. Also, when witches were executed not only were they executed but sometimes multiple other family members were executed as well.
The disposal of the bodies was also very interesting. Many times, people accused of witchcraft that were executed would not receive a proper burial. The treatment of your body after execution depended on the crimes or threat of the accused. One of the common disposals was simply removing the body from the pueblo and leaving out to rot. There were also times when the body or bodies would be placed into a shallow grave in the cemetery. Overall we noticed both differences and similarities to the Salem witch trails we have all heard at least a bit about and the Zuni tribe of the American southwest. Witches in both areas were often blamed for death and big disasters as well as petty crimes in the community. Both were interrogated by religious authorities to great extent and occasionally let off of the hook for confessing to their sins of witchcraft. Some of the big differences were the stigma behind witches: Salem witches were female and completely sinful while Zuni witches had good in them and could be anyone in the tribe. The Zuni would tie up the accused by their hands and leave them outside as pictured below:
In Salem on the other hand, the accused were usually held in the church. Gaining knowledge about the Zuni witches and comparing it to what we normally think of when we think of American witches has truly been an enlightening experience.
Welcome to our Blog!
Howdy readers!
This blog is for our Anthropology of Death course for the Spring Semester of 2015 at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. On this blog, we will be discussing Cannibalism and Witchcraft in the American Southwest! Posts and research are compiled by Joshua Fredlund, Seth Sturch, Haley Paben, and Abbie Austin.
Enjoy and feel free to contribute ideas or thoughts!
Witchcraft and Cannibalism in the American Southwest 