Cannibalism in Papua New Guinea: The Truth Behind the Colonial Myths

Many people still associate Papua New Guinea with cannibalism. Much of that image was shaped by Western stereotypes, early explorers and missionaries, colonial accounts, and later by books, documentaries and popular media fascinated by the idea of remote “cannibal tribes.” The reality, as is often the case, is considerably more complex than the stereotype.

Yes, cannibalism was historically practiced in some communities in Papua New Guinea. But cannibalism can take many different forms, and it does not necessarily mean killing and eating enemies, as the popular Western image often suggests. Some of the best-documented practices in Papua New Guinea involved endocannibalism, the consumption of people from within one’s own community, particularly deceased relatives. Rather than an act of violence, this could form part of mourning, mortuary rituals and the respectful treatment of the dead. This is one of the practices we will look at more closely in this article.

Studying cannibalism across human history is surprisingly difficult. Human flesh leaves no archaeological trace, so researchers largely have to work from bones and teeth, looking for evidence such as cut marks, burning, deliberate breakage and patterns of processing. Even these traces can have other explanations. What we do know is that cannibalism is not unique to Papua New Guinea, or even to Oceania. Archaeological and historical evidence shows that different forms of cannibalism have occurred in societies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific at different periods of human history.

Papua New Guinea therefore deserves to be understood in that wider human context, rather than through the old image of the “cannibal tribe.” So let’s look at what we actually know about cannibalism in Papua New Guinea, why it was practiced, and where the historical evidence ends and the myths begin.

Local communities are proud of their traditions and cultural heritage. This performance in the Papua New Guinea Highlands shares the historical story of endocannibalism with visitors, keeping local history and oral traditions alive through storytelling.

Common Myths About Cannibalism in Papua New Guinea

Cannibalism in Papua New Guinea is often discussed as if it were a single practice. In reality, different communities had different traditions, motivations and beliefs surrounding the treatment and consumption of the dead. Understanding those differences is essential to separating documented practices from some of the most persistent myths.

Myth 1: Cannibalism Meant Killing and Eating Enemies

One of the most persistent stereotypes about cannibalism in Papua New Guinea is the image of warriors killing their enemies and then eating them. Warfare certainly existed, and in some communities enemies were killed, their bodies mutilated or parts of them consumed. But these practices varied enormously between communities and should not be treated as a single tradition shared across Papua New Guinea.

Part of the confusion comes from headhunting, which was historically practiced in several parts of New Guinea. Taking an enemy’s head could be connected to warfare, revenge, status, initiation or spiritual beliefs. Skulls and other human remains could then be kept, displayed, or incorporated into ritual practices. To outside observers, particularly early European explorers and missionaries, the presence of human remains could easily become evidence of “cannibalism,” even when no consumption had taken place.

This distinction is important. Headhunting and cannibalism are not the same thing. A community could practice headhunting without practicing cannibalism, while another might consume parts of enemies within a specific ritual or warfare context.

The popular image of Papua New Guinean “cannibal warriors” therefore combines several different practices into one dramatic stereotype. The historical reality was much more culturally specific, and the reasons people interacted with the bodies of enemies were not always about eating them.

Myth 2: Cannibalism Was Practiced Across Papua New Guinea

Another misleading idea is that cannibalism was once a common practice across Papua New Guinea. There is clear evidence that it occurred in some communities, but Papua New Guinea was never culturally uniform, and neither were its traditions surrounding death, warfare or the human body.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries on Earth. More than 800 Indigenous languages are still spoken across the country, representing hundreds of distinct communities with their own histories, beliefs and traditions. Many of these cultural differences remain clearly visible today, particularly in the Highlands, where communities maintain remarkably distinct traditions even within relatively small geographical areas. You can explore some of them in my guide to Papua New Guinea Highlands tribes: how to visit, what to expect, and the best cultural tours.

This diversity matters when talking about cannibalism. There was no single “Papua New Guinean” practice of cannibalism. Customs could differ considerably even between neighbouring communities, and evidence from one part of the country tells us very little about what people were doing hundreds of kilometres away.

For example, archaeological research on Rossel Island in southeastern Papua New Guinea has uncovered disarticulated, burnt and cut human remains dating from approximately the past 540 years. Researchers Ben Shaw and Simon Coxe argue that cannibalism there became associated with feasting, conflict and changing social and political relationships. Their findings provide strong archaeological evidence for cannibalism in one particular region, but not for Papua New Guinea as a whole.

The same local variation can be seen in the Eastern Highlands. Research into kuru found important differences in mortuary practices between the Fore and neighbouring linguistic groups. Those differences were significant enough to influence where and how the kuru epidemic spread.

This is why describing historical Papua New Guinea simply as a country of “cannibal tribes” is so misleading. Cannibalism existed, but it belonged to particular cultural traditions in particular places. Turning those practices into a characteristic of an entire country erased the extraordinary diversity of the people who lived there.

Life in the Papua New Guinea Highlands today is largely rural. Many families farm the land, raise pigs and live in small communities where agriculture, family and long-standing traditions remain an important part of everyday life.

Myth 3: Human Remains Were Proof of Cannibalism

When European explorers, missionaries and colonial officials began entering more remote parts of Papua New Guinea, they sometimes encountered something that seemed to confirm what they already believed about the country: human skulls, bones and even preserved bodies kept in villages and ceremonial spaces.

But human remains did not necessarily mean that the person had been eaten.

In many Papua New Guinean societies, the physical remains of the dead continued to have meaning long after death. Bones and skulls could represent ancestors, relationships between the living and the dead, clan identity and spiritual connections. Rather than disposing of a body and leaving it behind, some communities continued to interact with the remains of deceased relatives as part of their mortuary traditions.

In the Sepik region, for example, the Iatmul preserved and over-modelled ancestral skulls with clay, creating portraits of deceased clan members. According to the Weltkulturen Museum’s research on Sepik ancestor skulls, the skulls of important men could be painted with symbols identifying their clan. Far from being evidence of cannibalism, these remains formed part of ancestor worship: the skulls were understood as manifestations of ancestral vitality that helped ensure the continuity of the community.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Highlands, some Anga communities preserved entire bodies through smoking and mummification. The deceased could remain physically present above the village, maintaining a connection between ancestors, descendants and clan land. When Christian missionaries arrived in the region in the twentieth century, they discouraged the practice and promoted burial instead.

To outsiders unfamiliar with these traditions, a house containing human skulls or a preserved body could look like obvious evidence of cannibalism. In reality, the remains might tell an entirely different story about ancestry, mourning, memory, spirituality and the continuing place of the dead among the living.

Human remains were therefore not proof of cannibalism. In some cases, they were evidence of something Europeans initially struggled to understand: very different ideas about what should happen to a person after death.

Myth 4: Cannibalism Was Driven by Hunger

Perhaps one of the easiest assumptions to make about cannibalism is that people ate other people because there was not enough food. In Papua New Guinea, however, the documented practices of cannibalism cannot simply be explained by hunger or a lack of other sources of nutrition.

Cannibalism can occur for very different reasons. Across human history, there are documented cases of survival cannibalism, where people facing starvation have consumed human flesh as a last resort. But this is fundamentally different from culturally established forms of cannibalism, where consuming part of another person carried a social, ritual or spiritual meaning.

In Papua New Guinea, these meanings varied between communities. In some contexts, the consumption of enemies could be connected to warfare, revenge or power. In others, human remains were consumed as part of mortuary practices surrounding death. What mattered was therefore not simply the nutritional value of human flesh, but who was consumed, by whom, under what circumstances and why.

This distinction changes the way we understand cannibalism in Papua New Guinea. Reducing the practice to hunger strips away the cultural meaning behind it and reinforces an old image of people eating whatever they could find to survive.

Some of the most remarkable examples actually involved people consuming members of their own community after death. To understand why, we need to look at a very different form of cannibalism: endocannibalism.

Christianity and missionary work have had a profound influence on life and traditional beliefs in Papua New Guinea. Today, churches of many different denominations are found throughout the country, even in small and remote rural communities, and it is almost impossible to travel through Papua New Guinea without encountering them. Christianity now exists alongside, and has often transformed, older Indigenous beliefs and traditions.

Endocannibalism in Papua New Guinea: Why Some Communities Ate Their Dead

To understand some of the most remarkable forms of cannibalism in Papua New Guinea, we have to leave the Western idea of cannibalism as an act of violence behind. In endocannibalism, the person being consumed comes from within the same community. In Papua New Guinea, some of the best-documented examples were part of mortuary traditions: the person had already died, and consuming the body formed part of what happened after death.

The best-known example comes from the Fore people of the Eastern Highlands, although related mortuary practices were also documented among neighbouring linguistic groups. Among the Fore, the consumption of deceased relatives was not primarily about food. It was embedded in ideas about kinship, mourning, the body and what should happen to a person after death.

Fore mortuary practices have sometimes been described by researchers using the term transumption rather than simply cannibalism. The distinction is useful because the practice was understood within a much larger process of caring for and disposing of the dead. From a Fore perspective, allowing a loved one’s body to decay in the ground could be deeply distressing. Consuming the body offered another way for relatives to deal with the physical remains of someone they loved.

The practice also reflected beliefs about what happened to the different parts of a person after death. Death did not simply mean that a person disappeared. The body and other aspects of the deceased had to be dealt with correctly, and surviving relatives had responsibilities in that process. Eating the body could therefore be part of mourning and the transformation of the deceased rather than an act of hostility toward them.

This is what makes endocannibalism so important for understanding the history of cannibalism in Papua New Guinea. The same physical act can carry completely different meanings in different cultural contexts. What appears shocking when viewed from outside a culture could, within that culture, express obligations toward relatives, respect for the dead, and beliefs about the proper way to complete a person’s journey after death.

Among the Fore, however, this mortuary tradition had an unforeseen and devastating consequence. Consuming the tissues of deceased relatives allowed an infectious protein to pass from one person to another. The result was kuru, a fatal neurological disease that would eventually draw scientists from around the world to the Eastern Highlands and contribute to a major breakthrough in our understanding of prion diseases.

If you’re interested in other Papua New Guinean traditions that can be easily misunderstood from the outside, you might also enjoy Inside Papua New Guinea’s Crocodile Scarification Ritual, which explores the meaning behind one of the Sepik region’s most remarkable initiation traditions.

As a solo female traveler, I have loved exploring Papua New Guinea, meeting its people and learning about its incredibly diverse cultures and living traditions. This photo is from one of those cultural encounters and is unrelated to the historical cannibalism discussed in this article.

Kuru and Cannibalism in Papua New Guinea

The most famous and best-documented connection between cannibalism and disease in Papua New Guinea comes from the Fore people of the Eastern Highlands. Until the mid-twentieth century, the Fore practiced a form of mortuary endocannibalism in which deceased relatives were consumed as part of the rituals surrounding death.

For the Fore, this was not an act of hunger or violence. The body of a deceased relative had to be dealt with properly, and consuming it formed part of a wider system of beliefs about death, kinship and the obligations of the living toward the dead. Allowing the body of someone close to decompose in the ground could be considered a distressing fate, while mortuary consumption provided another way for relatives to care for the physical remains of the deceased.

The practice, however, had an entirely unforeseen consequence. During the first half of the twentieth century, a mysterious and invariably fatal neurological illness spread through Fore communities. The disease became known as kuru, from a Fore word associated with trembling or shaking, one of its characteristic symptoms.

Kuru did not affect everyone equally. Women and children were affected far more frequently than adult men, a pattern that initially puzzled researchers. The explanation was closely connected to the way mortuary cannibalism was practiced. Women were primarily responsible for preparing the bodies and, together with children, consumed tissues that could include the brain and other organs. Adult men participated much less or avoided many of these tissues altogether.

Scientists eventually established that kuru was transmitted through exposure to infected human tissue, particularly nervous-system tissue. But the infectious agent was unlike a bacterium, virus or parasite. Kuru became central to research that eventually demonstrated the existence of prions: infectious misfolded proteins capable of causing fatal neurodegenerative disease.

When mortuary cannibalism was discontinued during the 1950s and 1960s, transmission of kuru largely stopped. Yet cases continued to appear decades later because the disease can have an extraordinarily long incubation period. Research among the Fore documented incubation periods exceeding 50 years in some individuals.

The story of kuru therefore became far more than an unusual chapter in the history of cannibalism in Papua New Guinea. Research that began with a devastating epidemic in a relatively small Highland community helped transform scientific understanding of an entirely new category of infectious disease and contributed to research into other prion diseases, including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Understanding Papua New Guinea Beyond the Cannibalism Myths

For travelers, understanding this history matters. Papua New Guinea is still frequently marketed through images of “lost tribes,” warriors and cannibalism, but these labels tell us very little about the people who live there today. The country is home to hundreds of distinct cultural and linguistic communities, each with its own history, traditions and relationship with the modern world.

Traveling through Papua New Guinea has shown me how much more interesting the reality is than the stereotype. In the Highlands especially, traditions remain an important part of everyday identity, but they exist alongside Christianity, education, mobile phones, modern politics and all the other realities of contemporary life. The same distinction is important when thinking about travel today: historical stories about cannibalism have little to do with the actual challenges travelers may encounter. If you are planning a trip, I cover those separately in Is Papua New Guinea Safe? An Honest Guide for Travelers (2026–2027).

This is also the approach behind Visit Natives’ Papua New Guinea journeys: meeting people in their own communities, spending time with local families and guides, and learning about traditions from the people who actually practice them rather than arriving with an expectation of finding a version of Papua New Guinea created by outsiders.

The history of cannibalism is real and deserves to be understood. But perhaps the more important lesson is that Papua New Guinea has never been reducible to that one story.

Experience Papua New Guinea Beyond the Stereotypes

Travel deep into the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and experience one of the world’s most culturally diverse regions together with the people who call it home.

Our small-group and private journeys take you beyond festivals and quick village visits. Stay in Indigenous communities, spend time with local families and guides, and learn about traditions, beliefs and everyday life directly from your hosts.

Explore our Papua New Guinea journeys

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Frequently Asked Questions About Cannibalism in Papua New Guinea

Was cannibalism really practiced in Papua New Guinea?

Yes. Historical, anthropological and archaeological evidence shows that cannibalism was practiced by some communities in Papua New Guinea. However, it was never a universal practice across the country, and its meaning and purpose varied considerably between communities.

Does cannibalism still exist in Papua New Guinea?

There is no evidence that cannibalism is a normal or accepted practice in contemporary Papua New Guinea. The historical practices discussed in this article belonged to particular communities and cultural contexts, many of which disappeared during the twentieth century.

Why did people practice cannibalism in Papua New Guinea?

There was no single reason. Depending on the community and historical context, cannibalism could be associated with warfare, ritual beliefs or mortuary traditions. Among the Fore people, for example, consuming deceased relatives formed part of traditions surrounding death and mourning rather than hunger.

What is endocannibalism?

Endocannibalism means consuming someone from within one's own social or cultural group. In some Papua New Guinean communities, this historically included the consumption of deceased relatives as part of mortuary rituals. It is different from exocannibalism, which involves consuming people from outside one's own group.

What was kuru and how was it connected to cannibalism?

Kuru was a fatal neurological disease that affected the Fore people of Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands. It was transmitted through exposure to infected human tissue during mortuary cannibalism, particularly affecting women and children. Research into kuru played an important role in scientists' eventual understanding of prion diseases.

Is Papua New Guinea safe for travelers?

Papua New Guinea is a modern country, and historical cannibalism has no relevance to the safety of travelers today. Travel conditions vary considerably by region, however, and remote areas are best visited with knowledgeable local guides who understand the communities, logistics and local conditions.

About the Author

Anniina Sandberg is a cultural anthropologist (MA African Studies), traveler, and founder of Visit Natives, a travel company specializing in Indigenous-led journeys and experiences with remote communities around the world.

Her work has taken her far beyond conventional tourism, from living and traveling with Indigenous communities to exploring how culture, traditions, and outside perceptions shape the way we understand people and places. Papua New Guinea has become one of the destinations closest to her work, combining her background in anthropology with a personal fascination for some of the world's most culturally diverse and least understood communities.

Through Visit Natives, Anniina organizes private and small-group expeditions to Papua New Guinea, particularly into the Highlands. The journeys are built around locally hosted experiences, time spent in Indigenous communities, and learning directly from local people rather than viewing their cultures through stereotypes created by outsiders.

She also travels in Papua New Guinea herself, documenting the people she meets and the traditions and stories behind one of the world's most culturally fascinating destinations.

References

Beckett, R. G., & Nelson, A. J. (2015). Mummy restoration project among the Anga of Papua New Guinea. The Anatomical Record, 298(6), 1013–1025. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23139

Bello, S. M. (2025). The archaeology of cannibalism: A review of the taphonomic traits associated with survival and ritualistic cannibalism. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 32, Article 11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09676-3

Collinge, J., Whitfield, J., McKintosh, E., Beck, J., Mead, S., Thomas, D. J., & Alpers, M. P. (2006). Kuru in the 21st century. An acquired human prion disease with very long incubation periods. The Lancet, 367(9528), 2068–2074. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68930-7

Kik, A., Adamec, M., Aikhenvald, A. Y., Bajzekova, J., Baro, N., Bowern, C., Colwell, R. K., Drozd, P., Duda, P., Ibalim, S., Jorge, L. R., Mogina, J., Ruli, B., Sam, K., Sarvasy, H., Saulei, S., Weiblen, G. D., Zrzavý, J., & Novotny, V. (2021). Language and ethnobiological skills decline precipitously in Papua New Guinea, the world's most linguistically diverse nation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22), e2100096118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100096118

Shaw, B., & Coxe, S. (2021). Cannibalism and developments to socio-political systems from 540 BP in the Massim Islands of south-east Papua New Guinea. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online, 34, 47–60.

Whitfield, J. T., Pako, W. H., Collinge, J., & Alpers, M. P. (2017). Cultural factors that affected the spatial and temporal epidemiology of kuru. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1716), 20160309. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5319347/