On a limestone ridge in northern Spain, archaeologists uncovered a single 850,000-year-old vertebra, covered in cut marks.

The human bone was uncovered at the Gran Dolina cave site in the Sierra de Atapuerca. It had once been part of a child’s neck. According to the team that found it, those sharp incisions were surgical, intentional, human-made. They’re what was left after someone butchered the meat on the neck.

“This case is particularly striking, not only because of the child’s age, but also due to the precision of the cut marks,” said Dr. Palmira Saladié, co-director of the excavation and a specialist in prehistoric cannibalism at the IPHES-CERCA research center. “It is direct evidence that the child was processed like any other prey.”

An Ancient Diet of Flesh

Archaeologists found the vertebra in level TD6 of the Gran Dolina cave, a layer that previously offered paleoanthropologists a treasure trove of unexpected findings. Nearly thirty years ago, that same layer yielded the world’s first known case of ancient human cannibalism. Now, the latest find confirms that such grim behavior wasn’t a one-time occurrence—it was a pattern.

The child, likely between two and four years old, was a member of Homo antecessor, an extinct species of archaic humans. They lived during the Lower Pleistocene, long before Neanderthals and even longer before our own lineage had fully emerged.

The newly found vertebra was just one of ten human remains found this July. All belonged to Homo antecessor. Several showed evidence of defleshing, bone breakage, and other marks of meat processing. The patterns were identical to those found on the bones of animals consumed by the same humans.

“The preservation of the fossil surfaces is extraordinary,” Saladié told Live Science in an email. “The cut marks on the bones do not appear in isolation. Human bite marks have been identified on the bones—this is the most reliable evidence that the bodies found at the site were indeed consumed.”

These discoveries represent the earliest definitive example of human cannibalism in Europe. Earlier claims exist elsewhere—such as cut-marked bones in Kenya dated to 1.45 million years ago—but the newly discovered toddler remains are the most obvious so far.

Not the Only Ones

This season’s excavation also revealed a hyena latrine, just above the human remains. Researchers found more than 1,300 coprolites (fossilized dung) in the same vertical sequence, suggesting that humans and carnivores took turns occupying the cave. This evidence suggests harsh interspecies competition, where caves were contested territory and survival depended on who claimed them first.

Cannibalism, in this context, may have served multiple purposes. Possibly as a tool for asserting dominance, defending territory, and/or enduring long periods of scarcity.

Researchers believe the cave still has more to give. They only excavated a portion of TD6 so far. Deeper layers may contain even older remains—and more clues about how these early humans lived and died.

Revisiting the Dawn of Humanity

Homo antecessor remains an enigma. First discovered in 1997, it is found only at Atapuerca. Scientists still debate whether it was a direct ancestor of modern humans or an evolutionary offshoot that left no descendants. Either way, it was the earliest known human relative to live in Europe.

According to Saladié, the precise incisions for decapitation required anatomical understanding: “The vertebra presents clear incisions at key anatomical points for disarticulating the head.” Early humans practiced and passed on deliberate, learned acts of violence.

The idea that early humans routinely consumed one another challenges long-held assumptions. It reveals a version of prehistory shaped by survival at any cost. And it forces scientists to confront uncomfortable questions: Were such acts of cannibalism a fallback during extreme scarcity? Or were they an everyday occurrence in the life of early hominins?

“Every year we uncover new evidence that forces us to rethink how they lived, how they died, and how the dead were treated nearly a million years ago,” Saladié said.

Even today, that story is still being written, one bone at a time.