Prehistoric Europe

This feature concludes a train of thought which was initiated in 'Michelangelo and the Cucuteni' (see 'related links' in the sidebar).

Anthropophagy has been documented across prehistoric Europe (the practice of humans eating human flesh), with evidence also coming from Cucuteni Neolithic sites which are prolific across Eastern Europe.

The oldest archaeological evidence of anthropophagy comes from Gran Dolina Cave and Castell de Castells (both in Spain), the Goyet Caves (Belgium), Gough's Cave and Gloucestershire (both in England), Herxheim (Germany), Fontbrégoua Cave and Moula-Guercy (both in France), and Krapina (Croatia).

One of the first archaeologists to identify anthropophagy within the Cucuteni culture was Alexandra Bolomey (1932-1993).

In her study, New Discoveries of Human Bones in a Cucuteni Settlement (Vol 6, pp 159-173, 1983), Alexandra Bolomey refers to a human bone: 'The incisions on the femoral shaft (perhaps also gnaw marks?) can only be linked to anthropophagical practices, regardless of whether [or not] they had a ritual character'.

In the same study Bolomey also notes: 'I have reserved a special section for the four burials "in circular pits" from the Cucuteni A-B settlement at Traian-Dealul Fintinilor, which the archaeologist Hortensia Dumitrescu categorised as belonging to the category of human sacrifice rituals'.

Another study, The human bone with possible marks of human teeth as found at the Liveni site (Cucuteni culture), by Sergiu Haimovici, was published in Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, IX (Iași, 2003).

Haimovici on this work writes: 'If indeed the marks on the femur are from human teeth, as they appear [to be, then] we must conclude that we are dealing with [the] phenomenon of anthropophagy. However, if this practice did exist - similar to some cultures in more recent times in which it was practiced even into the nineteenth century - it was likely limited to a cultic, ritualistic nature'.

Archaeologist Senica Turcanu also explained: 'The existence of ritualistic anthropophagy and partial burials is assumed' in a document which was prepared for the first edition of the 'CUCUTENI-5000 Redivivus' conference which was held in Chișinău in 2006.

Last, but by no means least, archaeologists Maria Diaconescu and Aurel Melniciuc, both from Museum Botosani County, declared to the media that anthropophagy was highly likely in the Cucuteni culture.

Above is an example of Cucuteni culture art, one which can be linked to the argument that representations of fallopian tubes are included on many such pieces.

A study entitled Funeral meal and anthropophagy in Gumelniţa Chalcolithic civilization in the north-western Black Sea, by Anne Dambricourt Malassé, Pavel Dolukhanov, Michel Louis Séfériadès, and Leonid Subbotin contains the following text in the abstract:

The discovery in 1999 of a parietal bone in a domestic pit in [the] Bolgrad archaeological site which is situated on the shores of Lake Yalpug in Ukraine, allows us to confirm the hypothesis. Tracks from preparation work with an awl allow [us to reconstruct] the first stages of the rite, that of an anthropophagic funeral meal which was probably organised around the members of a family.

The anatomical knowledge which has been revealed by the tracks also makes it possible to envisage the existence of a social caste which is characterised by the double function of therapist and priest in relation to magical-religious practices.

The Gumelnița-Karanovo culture was located on the border with the Cucuteni-Tripolye and existed at approximately the same time, so it is reasonable to assume that the people of these two cultures were able to influence one other.

The 'Council of the Goddesses' from the Isaiia site in today's Romania.

Previous research

This study reinforces anatomical interpretations of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes, while also gaining reciprocal support from his work. In addition, since 2016 other studies have emerged regarding the likely anatomical aspects in Michelangelo's artwork.

A study entitled Intertwining art, religion and anatomy: did Michelangelo Buonarroti influence Berengario da Carpi's representation of a maternal death?, by Donatella Lippi, Tommaso Susini, Simon Donell, and Raffaella Bianucci, was published in 2022, with an abstract which included the following:

Aim: to confirm that the sixteenth century surgeon-anatomist, Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, used a woman who had died of a ruptured uterus as a model for a woodcut of female genital anatomy, and that the presentation was based on the cloak in Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam' after visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican whilst he was in Rome.

Further more, in 2024 another study appeared, Did Michelangelo paint a young adult woman with breast cancer in 'The Flood' (Sistine Chapel, Rome)?, by Andreas G Nerlich, Johann C Dewaal, Antonio Perciaccante, Serena Di Cosimo, Laura Cortesi, Judith Wimmer, Simon T Donell, and Raffaella Bianucci.

This study was coordinated by Andreas G Nerlich, a forensic pathologist at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, and was published in the Breast journal.

Conclusion

By drawing parallels between Neolithic symbolism and Renaissance art, the universal nature can be highlighted in terms of human curiosity and creativity across millennia.

Why suggest that a study of Michelangelo and the fallopian tubes in the Sistine Chapel indirectly supports a similar hypothesis for the Cucuteni-Tripolye culture?

Genius did not emerge in the fifteenth century alone, but has instead existed throughout history. Consider, for instance, the contemplative 'The Thinker from Hamangia' (5000 BC), with this location forming the type site for the Hamangia culture which neighboured the Cucuteni in Romania.

The Cucuteni-Tripolye culture developed on plains around the Carpathian Mountains - continuing into eastern Romania and south-western Ukraine, with both areas having extremely fertile soil - and the culture was next door to the Hamangia, which produced artistic marvels such as 'The Thinker', dated to around 4000 BC (click or tap on image to view full sized)

Figures like the gorgeous 'Thinker of Hamangia' demonstrate that genius transcends time, thereby challenging the assumption of modern superiority over our ancient ancestors.

We often tend to believe that they were primitive and that we are absolutely superior. However, many of them were just as curious about the human achievement of internal awareness and consciousness. Does there now exist a clear answer to the question of how and when this was achieved? Do humans today truly know something which is fundamentally new about the moment at which consciousness first emerges?

Hopefully, glimpses into the past will guide today's humans in the pursuit of deeper, more detailed answers to such questions.

The Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, with its symbolic artistry and advanced social structures, provides compelling evidence that Neolithic humans possessed both the inquisitiveness and capacity for metaphorical representations of anatomy.

These findings not only bolster interpretations of Michelangelo’s work but also underscore the continuity of genius and innovation across human history.

Main Sources

Luke Hutchinson - Growing the Family Tree: The Power of DNA in Reconstructing Family Relationship (2004, reproduced in the Proceedings of the First Symposium on Bioinformatics and Biotechnology BIOT-04)

Alexandra Bolomey - New Discoveries of Human Bones in a Cucuteni Settlement (Archaeological Research, 1983)

Andreas G Nerlich, Johann C Dewaal, Antonio Perciaccante, Serena Di Cosimo, Laura Cortesi, Judith Wimmer, Simon T Donell, & Raffaella Bianucci - Did Michelangelo paint a young adult woman with breast cancer in 'The Flood' (Sistine Chapel, Rome)? (Breast, 2024)

Anne Dambricourt Malassé, Pavel Dolukhanov, Michel Louis Séfériadès, & Leonid Subbotin - Funeral Meal and Anthropophagy in Gumelniţa Chalcolithic Civilization in the North-western Black Sea area (2008)

Deivis de Campos, Tais Malysz, João Antonio Bonatto-Costa, Geraldo Pereira Jotz, Lino Pinto de Oliveira Junior, Jéssica Francine Wichmann, Guilherme Reghelin Goulart, Marco Antonio Stefani, & Andrea Oxley da Rocha - The hidden symbols of the female anatomy in Michelangelo Buonarroti's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel (Clinical Anatomy, 2016)

Donatella Lippi, Tommaso Susini, Simon Donell, Raffaella Bianucci - Intertwining art, religion and anatomy: did Michelangelo Buonarroti influence Berengario da Carpi's representation of a maternal death? (Matern Fetal Neonatal Medicine, 2022)

Sergiu Haimovici - The Human Bone with Possible Marks of Human Teeth Found at Liveni Site (Cucuteni Culture) (Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, IX, 2003)

Online Sources

Bisserka Gaydarska , Marco Nebbia, & John Chapman - Trypillia Megasites in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2019)

Voloshin website

Images and text copyright © original owners and Christian Horgos respectively. An original feature for the History Files which was also submitted to other platforms.