15th century Europeans believed they had hit upon a miracle cure:
15 世紀的歐洲人相信 他們偶然發現了一種神奇解藥，
a remedy for epilepsy, hemorrhage, bruising, nausea,
能治療癲癇、出血、挫傷、嘔吐，
and virtually any other medical ailment.
幾乎包治百病。
This brown powder could be mixed into drinks, made into salves
這種棕色粉末可摻進飲料裡、
or eaten straight up.
做成藥膏、或者直接口服。
It was known as mumia and made by grinding up mummified human flesh.
它被稱作 「mumia」， 由人肉乾磨碎製成。
The word "cannibal" dates from the time of Christopher Columbus;
「食人族」一詞起源於哥倫布時代，
in fact, Columbus may even have coined it himself.
實際上，這個詞可能 是哥倫布創造的。
After coming ashore on the island of Guadaloupe,
在登陸瓜達魯佩島後，
Columbus' initial reports back to the Queen of Spain
哥倫布在給西班牙女王 的首次報告中，
described the indigenous people as friendly and peaceful—
描繪了當地土著人的友善與和平，
though he did mention rumors of a group called the Caribs,
但他也提到了加勒比族的傳言，
who made violent raids and then cooked and ate their prisoners.
據說他們會暴力襲擊並煮食俘虜。
In response, Queen Isabella granted permission to capture and enslave
作為回應，伊莎貝拉女王頒布了
anyone who ate human flesh.
允許抓捕和奴役食人者的命令。
When the island failed to produce the gold Columbus was looking for,
當島上的黃金被掠奪得所剩無幾後，
he began to label anyone who resisted his plundering and kidnapping as a Caribe.
他開始將抵抗者歸為加勒比人，
Somewhere along the way, the word "Carib" became "Canibe" and then "Cannibal."
久而久之，「加勒比人（Carib）」變成了 「Canibe」，最後演變為「食人族（Cannibal）」。
First used by colonizers to dehumanize indigenous people,
這個詞一開始被殖民者 用來對原住民去人性化，
it has since been applied to anyone who eats human flesh.
之後成為對所有食人者的統稱。
So the term comes from an account that wasn't based on hard evidence,
雖然詞語的由來缺乏有力證據，
but cannibalism does have a real and much more complex history.
但人類相食確實有著 漫長而複雜的歷史。
It has taken diverse forms— sometimes, as with mumia,
食人有多種形式， 比如像 mumia 的粉末，
it doesn't involved recognizable parts of the human body.
這種形式無法辨別出 所用的人體部位。
The reasons for cannibalistic practices have varied, too.
食人的理由也多種多樣。
Across cultures and time periods, there's evidence of survival cannibalism,
歷史上許多時期都有過 為了生存的食人記載，
when people living through a famine, siege or ill-fated expedition
當遭受饑荒、受到封鎖 或者遠徵途中遭遇不幸時，
had to either eat the bodies of the dead or starve to death themselves.
人們只能選擇吃死人 或是成為死人。
But it's also been quite common for cultures
但在很多文化中，
to normalize some form of eating human flesh under ordinary circumstances.
食人在日常生活中也不足為奇。
Because of false accounts like Columbus's,
由於類似哥倫布的錯誤記載，
it's difficult to say exactly how common cultural cannibalism has been—
我們很難透徹了解 食人在文化中有多常見，
but there are still some examples of accepted cannibalistic practices
但可以知道的是，
from within the cultures practicing them.
有些文化接受食人行為。
Take the medicinal cannibalism in Europe during Columbus's time.
比如中世紀的醫用食人法。
Starting in the 15th century, the demand for mumia increased.
在 15 世紀，mumia 供不應求，
At first, stolen mummies from Egypt supplied the mumia craze,
一開始，商人從埃及偷盜木乃伊，
but soon the demand was too great to be sustained on Egyptian mummies alone,
但不久後，木乃伊無法 應對需求的激增，
and opportunists stole bodies from European cemeteries to turn into mumia.
投機者便從歐洲的墓園 偷盜屍體製成藥粉。
Use of mumia continued for hundreds of years.
mumia 療法持續了幾百年，
It was listed in the Merck index, a popular medical encyclopedia,
它被列在著名醫藥百科全書 《默克索引》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
歐洲常見的人肉製品
that was common throughout Europe.
遠不止磨碎的木乃伊：
Blood, in either liquid or powdered form, was used to treat epilepsy,
液體和粉狀的人血 都曾被用來治療癲癇，
while human liver, gall stones, oil distilled from human brains,
肝臟、膽結石、人腦提煉的油、
and pulverized hearts were popular medical concoctions.
以及磨碎的心臟 都是很受歡迎的藥方。
In China,
在中國，
the written record of socially accepted cannibalism goes back almost 2,000 years.
文字記載的食人現象 要追溯到 2000 年前，
One particularly common form of cannibalism
最具代表性的是
appears to have been filial cannibalism,
父母食用子女的肉。
where adult sons and daughters would offer a piece of their own flesh
成年的子女
to their parents.
會獻出身上一部分肉給父母吃。
This was typically offered as a last-ditch attempt to cure a sick parent,
這通常作為治療 病危父母的最後手段，
and wasn't fatal to their offspring—
但對於子女並不是致命的，
it usually involved flesh from the thigh or, less often, a finger.
這些肉來自於大腿， 也有較少的情況下來自手指。
Cannibalistic funerary rites are another form of culturally sanctioned cannibalism.
食人葬禮儀式是另一種 被文化認同的食人形式。
Perhaps the best-known example came from the Fore people of New Guinea.
或許最著名的例子是 紐幾內亞的法雷人：
Through the mid-20th century, members of the community would,
20 世紀中期，很多法雷人
if possible, make their funerary preferences known in advance,
會儘可能提前公布 自己的葬禮偏好，
sometimes requesting that family members gather to consume the body after death.
有時會請求家庭成員們 在自己死後一同吃掉屍體。
Tragically, though these rituals honored the deceased,
不幸的是，雖然這些儀式 表達了對死者的敬意，
they also spread a deadly disease known as kuru through the community.
但也傳播了一種 致命的疾病：庫魯病。
Between the fictionalized stories, verifiable practices,
在虛構故事、可證實的做法、
and big gaps that still exist in our knowledge,
和我們貧瘠的知識中，
there's no one history of cannibalism.
食人的歷史尚未有統一的說法。
But we do know that people have been eating each other,
但我們知道，人類同類相食，
volunteering themselves to be eaten,
自願被吃，
and accusing others of eating people for millennia.
以及指控他人吃人已有數千年之久。