Ancient Britons could have been cannibals, Geoff Marsh wrote on Sunday Express.
A human arm bone from a prehistoric cave in Devon was found to have seven cut marks made by a stone tool and the bone had been fractured.
The 9,000-year-old bone were examined by the scientists and it was believed the marks on the bone had been left after removing flesh from it, or the dismemberment had taken place shortly after death.
Dr Rick Schulting, of the School of Archaeology at Oxford University, said in an interview with Sunday Express: “There are intentional cut marks on there, and it seems the bone has been intentionally split.
“These two together can raise the possibility of cannibalism,” he then added: “The location of the fracture, right at the elbow, is where the cut would be made if dismemberment had taken place.”
The fact the markings are all in the same place indicate they were made to remove muscle attachments from the bone while it was still “fresh”, Dr Schulting said.
He then went on to say had the remains come from an animal, he would have assumed the bone had been fractured to remove the marrow.
The bone fragment, from Kent’s Cavern, is currently being kept at Torquay Museum.
Barry Chandler, Curator of Torquary Museum showed it to Dr Schulting, and it was him who had noticed the parallel cut marks on the bone.
The whereabouts of the rest of the adult human’s body are unknown, Geoff Marsh wrote.
Dr schulting also said it might also be wrong to consider ancient Briton as cannibal, as these markings could have been part of a ritualistic burial process.
He added: “These cuts may have been made to help the body decompose more quickly and speed up the process of joining the ancestors.
“Finds like this highlight the complexity of mortuary practices in the Mesolithic period, many thousands of years before the appearance of farming in the Neolithic period, which is more usually associated with complex funerary behaviour.”
Dr Schulting said the marks and the fracture were rare in British prehistory, and that the find was “particularly interesting” for this reason.
“This may only be a single bone, but it has already shown us something about mortuary practices, and the possibility of cannibalism,” he added.
According to the Sunday Express, the bone from kent’s Cavern was discovered by archaeologist and geologist William Pengelly in 1866.
It is hoped more remains found at the cave can now be analysed to look for further evidence of cannibalism.
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