Madventures found cannibalism in PNG, but we could have traveled to anywhere in the world, really.

If you scratch the surface, you will find that cannibalism is not rare nor its practice limited to indigenous tribes. It is a human trait that has been silenced by cultural differences, but when pushed, the 250 million year old reptilian brain in us all is willing and able to do what it must to survive.

The Chinese have 4000 years of history in medicinal cannibalism – human organs and flesh being used as a medicine source. In 12^th century Arabia you could purchase human remains steeped in honey – used as an ointment or ingested, again for medicinal purposes. Aztecs flayed and ate their own in sacrifices to their gods, Australian aboriginals practiced infanticide to fight off starvation, Inuits ate first their dogs and only then their old women.

Even today, some shamans of Guyana are known to eat rotten human flesh of victims they have killed and buried, in order to magically maintain the health of the planet.

In the 17^th century Europeans made mummies out of young men killed in battle or executed for their crimes. The process was similar when you cure ham – herbs, honey and spices were involved. Squares made out of human meat were then ordered by finest European doctors for those who could afford this method of treatment.

Just like in the Old Testament original sin was the fault of woman, the PNG tribes’ tradition has it that it was the women of the tribes who first urged the men to kill their fellow human beings for the purpose of eating them.

The wimmenfolk weren’t too keen on the wallabies and boars and cassowaries their hunters brought home, so the guys decided to attack the neighboring village for more tender meat. And the women cooked them, and pronounced them good.

And from that day till now, the men and women of these tribes have always said that the flesh of human beings is better than the flesh of any other animal. This new meat was known as “The long pig”.

Not that tribes do not have special relationship with the pigs of the more common variety: there’s a story the locals like to tell – if it’s true is actually beside the point.

A few years ago, two gringos ran a pig down with their car. They got out of their car, identified the owner of the dead pig and offered their apologies. For their troubles, they were skinned alive.

What makes it even morbid is that the two whiteys were anthropologists and should definitely have known better.

Butchering a man the traditional cannibal way is to cut from anus to neck. Make the wound deep, following the side of the trunk all the way to armpit. From there follow the collarbone to the throat. Now, make a similar cut on the other side, but from top to bottom.

Next, take a stone axe or sharpened wooden stick and through the openings, break the ribs. After this, the chest plate should be relatively easy to lift off. Next step is to cut off arms and legs. Jerk out the entrails – aaand bob’s your uncle.

Among the PNG tribes there are known cases of both exocannibalism – eating revenge victims, enemies or outsiders – and endocannibalism, the eating of accidentally or naturally deceased family members. The latter may cause Kuru, also known as “shaking” or “laughing” sickness. Kuru could be best describes as “mad human disease” and it has wiped out entire tribal societies.

So never ever eat a member of your own family, even if the rationale is to incorporate the departed’s body and spirit with yours forever.

For most parts, the practice of eating the human flesh died out with the arrival of Christianity. But like we proved in the show, there are places remote enough for even the cultural imperialism’s paw.

R & T