A fascinating find in Mexico now gives us an idea of what kind of recipes the ancient cannibals used. Local archaeologists and their colleagues from Spain came upon the remains of people attacked by cannibals. Because of these it became clear how exactly cannibals prepared their victims.
Most of the us have probably imagined how cannibals kill and rip apart their victims, then consume them right away. It turns out however that even in their culture there were culinary techniques to make human meat gain a more appetizing appearance.
In the 4th century BC, Indians roasted or boiled the flesh of the people they killed. For a superior fragrance and taste, they seasoned it with chili, annatto and other aromatic spices. This becomes evident after examination of the color of the human bones found during archaeological excavations, writes the Archaeometry journal.
Spanish and Italian experts studied the bones of 18 individuals found near Mexico. Upon inspection of the remains, they noticed that the killed people had become victims to cannibalism.
Even more interestingly, the archaeologists discovered that the bodies were heat treated, while being seasoned at the same time.
The bones found were yellow and red colored. After examination of the structure, they came to the conclusion that the meat had been treated in 2 different ways.
When flesh is boiled, the salts in the bones are dissolved, while the collagen rises to the surface. In contrast, during roasting, the temperature of the blood rises and the juice of the meat is absorbed in the upper layer of the bones. Bones having a red hue have had the flesh roasted, researchers state.
They explain further that a yellow hue of the bones is the result of seasoning the meat during boiling. It is thought that they used culinary ingredients such as pumpkin seeds, paprika, annatto and others.
To prove their hypothesis, the experts carried out a small experiment. They boiled cow bones, seasoning them with annatto. Not long after, the bones attained the same color as the ones uncovered during excavations near Mexico.
