Did humans eat hyenas?

If we accept that late Pleistocene Siberian hyenas sometimes consumed living and/or dead humans (acid-eroded human teeth, human bone in animal caves) as do present-day African hyenas, is there any evidence that humans anywhere ate hyenas? Speaking on a worldwide scale, humans characteristically do not eat terrestrial carnivores. The dog is the chief exception, primarily in prehistoric Mexico, where small dogs (chihuahuas) were raised as a specialty food (Aguilar-Moreno 2006:329). There are some accounts of dogs having been eaten in Arctic starvation situations. Bear meat was eaten at certain feasts held by Siberian tribes and Ainus (Sokolova 2000:121). Parts of powerful carnivores such as tigers were made into medicinal potions by the Chinese. Still, these practices are so rare that it can be generalized that humans do not eat terrestrial carnivores as part of our normal diet, nor do we eat hyenas under any circumstances.

What about Paleolithic humans having eaten hyenas? Our assemblages show no evidence of humans butchering hyenas, as were the findings of G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky (1931). Writing about his study of cut marks on bones found in Crimean Paleolithic sites, such as Kirk-Koba, he notes that about 80% of his sample (size not specified) had cut marks. The cut carnivore bones were identified as bear, lynx, wolf, and fox, but no cut hyena bones. Also, the cut marks on the bones of these fur-bearing animals do not necessarily indicate that they were eaten.

O’Hanlon (2010) reports that a bone assemblage found in an Iberian cave included hyena remains. The finder, Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo, dates the assemblage to 117 000183 000 years ago. At least one of the hyena bones had cut marks that he proposes suggest consumption. Since the deposit suggests a hyena den, the cut marks could be pseudo-cuts. We have no cut marks on bones that could be identified as those of hyenas. Hence, our assemblages have no potential evidence of ancient Siberians having eaten hyenas. It would appear that the negative views of hyenas held by modern Africans were also held by Paleolithic Siberians. Hyenas were not only dangerous, they likely also dug up human burials and did other damage to human living areas.