19 February 2011

A new PC term for cannibalism

The news didn't come as a big shocker:

Scientists working at a site in Somerset, England, have found the first evidence of cannibalism in the British Isles, including the use of skulls for drinking cups, according to a study published Thursday by the Public Library of Science.
After all, who of us can claim with any level of confidence that his ancestors didn't partake... So Brits could now join the rest of er... humanity.

What came as a real surprise was a fast recovery and an immediate relief, if not a solution, of the thorny issue:
"New analyses of human remains from Gough's Cave demonstrate the skilled post-mortem manipulation of human bodies," write researchers Silvia M. Bello, Simon A. Parfitt and Chris B. Stringer with London's Natural History Museum and University College London.
So what all the others, unwashed heathens that they are, knew as simple down to earth cannibalism, was in the British Isles "post-mortem manipulation of human bodies".

Lovely. I think that from now on every time I happen to consume some meat I shall call it... well, you can guess.

Anyhow, please amend your PC dictionaries, folks.

P.S. Pisa, I remember discussing with you not so long ago a related subject. Now you know...

5 comments:

Pisa said...

Don't you love the british academics? They know what they're talking about, since they still master the art of manipulation like no other! Only now they manipulate bodies while they are still alive...

If one bothers to check those ancestors' DNA, I bet one will find some of their descendants at the BBC, as well  ;)

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I bet that all them BBC people are vegans now. 

jams o donnell said...

Leaving aside that post mortem manipulation could cover other things too (and I won't go there) it's not the first evidence of cannibalism found in the British Isles. Quite a bit of evidence has been found before

What NN probably meqnt to say that this was the earliest recoded incidence.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

No worries, Jams - a bit of PC joshing, you know ;)

jams o donnell said...

I know but I fancied being a bit pedantic!