re: #95 Dr Lizardo
I was thinking of the Aztecs; the argument regarding the Aztecs is to exactly how widespread cannibalism was, and what purpose it may have served. Was it simply part of a religious ritual, or was there some necessity in it?
Personally, I tend to lean more towards a ritualistic explanation for it, and frankly, I doubt it was as widespread as some of the conquistadores indicated in their writings.
Certainly ritual for well-fed Aztecs. A little cloudier in Papua/New Guinea highlands, where the sacrament and the entree got a bit more mixed. (That’s where the link between cannibalism and koro, the debilitating brain disease was first proposed.)