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EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Few groups in the Americas are discussed more in the context of cannibalism than the Tonkawa Native Americans. Their ritual practice of the act led many other tribes in their region to decide it was time to inflict serious damage on the tribe. In 1862 they were massacred, leaving their number a fraction of what they were prior. But there are serious questions as to whether or not cannibalism is really the reason for the attack. These same tribes tolerated the Tonkawa for hundreds of years prior. In this episode I dive as deeply as I am willing to go into the practice of cannibalism, the prevalence of cannibalism in the Southwest, and the hidden motives behind the attack. All of which is done to ponder the question: What would you do if you lived along side man-eaters?

RESOURCES

Anasazi Ate Their Enemies
https://www.science.org/content/artic...

Cannibalism—the Ultimate Taboo—Is Surprisingly Common
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/cu...

Columbus' Claims of Cannibal Raids May Have Been True After All
https://www.livescience.com/are-colum...

Friends And Allies: The Tonkawa Indians And The Anglo- Americans, 1823-1881 by Thomas W. Dunlay
Great Plains Quarterly, Spring 1981
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/vi...

Human Cannibalism
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human...

Nine Years among the Indians by Herman Lehman (Book)

Notes on the History and Material Culture of the Tonkawa Indians by William K. Jones

Recollections of Early Texas: The memoir of John Holland Jenkins

The Terrible Truth: The Tonkawa Massacre of 1862 by Joseph Connole

Why Did Cannibals Eat Other People? (Hint: It's Not For the Calories)
https://time.com/4728703/cannibalism-...