Cannibalism
Sir,—B. R. Hansen’s sweeping statement (August 27) that “our ancestors in Britain were cannibals” appears, from the text of his letter, to be based on the observations of one wandering Greek, at one point in time and in one small area, Salmonsby. No reputable book I have read on the Celtic people mentions cannibalism. They did, however, revere the human head, and heads were often taken after battle and offered to their gods, a more preferred fate than being nailed to a cross or fed to the lions in the more “civilised south.” The Celts were expert farmers and metalworkers and, from about 1200 8.C., spread over most of Northern Europe and the British Isles, up to the time of the Roman invasions. Common sense should indicate that no race of people could prosper and multiply leading the type of existence B. R. Hansen would have us believe. — Yours, etc.,
A. R. COULING. Little Akaloa, August 28, 1986.
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Press, 1 September 1986, Page 20
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159Cannibalism Press, 1 September 1986, Page 20
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