Archaeology is based on theories constructed from fragmentary evidence, so it is not surprising that ideas and interpretations drift in and out of fashion. Timothy Taylor’s The Buried Soul (Fourth Estate, £8.99) attacks current notions about some of the murkier aspects of human behaviour. His investigation of the history of funerary rites shows that cannibalism and human sacrifice are not occasional aberrations as often suggested.
Eat the ancestors
By John Bonner
20 September 2003
