A brief history of cannibalism - Bill Schutt

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Bruce Sung

15th century Europeans believed they had hit upon a miracle cure:

十五世紀的歐洲人相信他們 偶然發現了一種奇蹟療法：

a remedy for epilepsy, hemorrhage, bruising, nausea,

可以治療癲癇、大出血、挫傷、噁心，

and virtually any other medical ailment.

以及幾乎任何醫療病痛。

This brown powder could be mixed into drinks, made into salves

這種褐色的粉末可以 混入飲料中、做成藥膏，

or eaten straight up.

或是直接服用。

It was known as mumia and made by grinding up mummified human flesh.

它就是 mumia，是由 弄乾保存的人肉磨碎製成。

The word "cannibal" dates from the time of Christopher Columbus;

「食人族」一詞源於哥倫布時代；

in fact, Columbus may even have coined it himself.

事實上，這個詞甚至有可能 是哥倫布本人創造的。

After coming ashore on the island of Guadaloupe,

登陸瓜地洛普島之後，

Columbus' initial reports back to the Queen of Spain

哥倫布交給西班牙女王的最初報告

described the indigenous people as friendly and peaceful—

有寫到原住民很友善、和平——

though he did mention rumors of a group called the Caribs,

不過他確實有提到，耳聞傳言 有個叫做加勒比人的族群，

who made violent raids and then cooked and ate their prisoners.

會暴力襲擊，接著 把他們的俘虜煮來吃掉。

In response, Queen Isabella granted permission to capture and enslave

伊莎貝爾女王的回應 是准許他捕捉並奴役

anyone who ate human flesh.

任何吃人肉的人。

When the island failed to produce the gold Columbus was looking for,

當這座島嶼無法產出 哥倫布在尋找的金子時，

he began to label anyone who resisted his plundering and kidnapping as a Caribe.

任何抗拒他劫掠和綁架的人，

都會被他貼上加勒比人的標籤。

Somewhere along the way, the word "Carib" became "Canibe" and then "Cannibal."

過程中，「加勒比人（Carib）」一詞

變成了「Canibe」而後又變成 「食人族（Cannibal）」。

First used by colonizers to dehumanize indigenous people,

這個詞一開始是被殖民者 用來將原住民去人性化，

it has since been applied to anyone who eats human flesh.

之後便被用來指稱 所有吃人肉的人。

So the term comes from an account that wasn't based on hard evidence,

食人這個詞的來源 並不是以可靠證據為基礎，

but cannibalism does have a real and much more complex history.

但它確實有真實且更複雜的歷史。

It has taken diverse forms— sometimes, as with mumia,

它有很多樣化的形式—— 有時就像 mumia 那樣，

it doesn't involved recognizable parts of the human body.

沒有涉及到可以辨識的人體部位。

The reasons for cannibalistic practices have varied, too.

食人的理由也有所不同。

Across cultures and time periods, there's evidence of survival cannibalism,

在許多不同文化不同時期中， 都有為生存而食人的證據，

when people living through a famine, siege or ill-fated expedition

遇到饑荒、被包圍攻擊， 或出師不利的遠征時，

had to either eat the bodies of the dead or starve to death themselves.

就只剩下兩個選擇，吃掉 死者的身體，或是自己餓死。

But it's also been quite common for cultures

但很常可以看見有些文化

to normalize some form of eating human flesh under ordinary circumstances.

會將在一般情況下吃人肉的 某種形式變成正常的事。

Because of false accounts like Columbus's,

因為有像哥倫布那樣的假造記述，

it's difficult to say exactly how common cultural cannibalism has been—

很難確切知道文化食人 有多麼常見——

but there are still some examples of accepted cannibalistic practices

但仍然有一些例子可以說明

有的文化可以接受食人的行為。

from within the cultures practicing them.

Take the medicinal cannibalism in Europe during Columbus's time.

比如，哥倫布時代 在歐洲的醫療食人。

Starting in the 15th century, the demand for mumia increased.

從十五世紀開始， mumia 的需求增加。

At first, stolen mummies from Egypt supplied the mumia craze,

最初，從埃及偷出來的木乃伊 能夠供應這種 mumia 熱潮，

but soon the demand was too great to be sustained on Egyptian mummies alone,

但沒多久，需求太大了， 光靠埃及木乃伊供不應求，

and opportunists stole bodies from European cemeteries to turn into mumia.

投機者便從歐洲的墓地 偷取屍體來做 mumia。

Use of mumia continued for hundreds of years.

用 mumia 治病的方式 持續了數百年。

It was listed in the Merck index, a popular medical encyclopedia,

它被列在知名的醫學百科 《默克索引》當中，

into the 20th century.

進入了二十世紀。

And ground up mummies were far from the only remedy made from human flesh

而歐洲常見的人肉製藥物

絕對不只有磨碎的木乃伊而已。

that was common throughout Europe.

Blood, in either liquid or powdered form, was used to treat epilepsy,

不論是液體或是粉末形式的血液 都曾被用來治療癲癇，

while human liver, gall stones, oil distilled from human brains,

此外，人類的肝臟、 膽石、人腦提煉的油，

and pulverized hearts were popular medical concoctions.

以及磨成粉的心臟都是搶手的醫藥。

In China,

在中國，根據書面記錄，

the written record of socially accepted cannibalism goes back almost 2,000 years.

社會上普遍認可的食人 最早出現於近兩千年前。

One particularly common form of cannibalism

一種很常見的食人形式

appears to have been filial cannibalism,

顯然是孝順食人，

where adult sons and daughters would offer a piece of their own flesh

成年的兒子和女兒會把自己的 一部分肉提供給他們的父母。

to their parents.

This was typically offered as a last-ditch attempt to cure a sick parent,

通常這是治療父母疾病的最後手段，

and wasn't fatal to their offspring—

且對於其子女並不會致命——

it usually involved flesh from the thigh or, less often, a finger.

通常會取用的是大腿的肉， 也有用手指，但較少見。

Cannibalistic funerary rites are another form of culturally sanctioned cannibalism.

食人葬禮儀式是在文化上 被認可的另一種食人形式。

Perhaps the best-known example came from the Fore people of New Guinea.

最知名的例子應該是 新幾內亞的法雷人。

Through the mid-20th century, members of the community would,

直到二十世紀中，如果可能的話，

if possible, make their funerary preferences known in advance,

這個種族的成員會事先 公佈他們的葬禮偏好，

sometimes requesting that family members gather to consume the body after death.

有時，會要求家人在他死後 聚集起來將屍體吃掉。

Tragically, though these rituals honored the deceased,

不幸的是，雖然這些儀式 是對死者表示敬意，

they also spread a deadly disease known as kuru through the community.

卻也在種族之間散播 致命的疾病：庫魯病。

Between the fictionalized stories, verifiable practices,

既有小說化的故事、 可驗證的做法，

and big gaps that still exist in our knowledge,

我們的知識當中也還有 很大的空白之處，

there's no one history of cannibalism.

因此食人的歷史有著 不只一種的說法。

But we do know that people have been eating each other,

但我們確實知道， 人類曾經會同類相食、

volunteering themselves to be eaten,

自願被吃掉，

and accusing others of eating people for millennia.

以及控訴其他人吃人， 且已有數千年之久。