In 2009, an archeological dig of a Stone Age village unearthed a mass grave with hundreds of human remains, belonging to at least 500 people and possibly over 1,000. The bones were of men, women, and children as well as infants and fetuses. Tool marks on the bones show that the flesh had been carefully scraped off while larger bones were broken, possibly to get at the marrow. Even the skulls were broken as if to better extract the brains.
The butchering all occurred shortly after the victims’ death and was clearly done by someone who knew what they were doing. Although the butchering was done with the same practiced techniques of slaughtering cattle or sheep, it is not certain what became of the human flesh. Some believe the villagers of Herxheim ate the meat; others say that it would have been buried along with the bones as part of the ritual.