This is the appropriate epistemic posture given that the evidence, while striking, does not allow for absolute certainty about the specific sequence of events.

Why might someone remove a brain from a recently deceased person?

The study considers several possibilities without definitively endorsing any single one.

The most prominent possibilities that the researchers discuss are preservation of the skull — the removal of soft tissue from the skull interior as part of a process of preparing the skull for long-term curation or display — and cannibalism, the consumption of brain tissue as part of a ritual or practical practice.

The cannibalism possibility is raised with appropriate caution, because the evidence for it, while consistent with brain removal, is not the kind of direct evidence — such as cut marks on the external skull surface associated with scalping or defleshing, or chemical signatures of cooking — that would strengthen a cannibalism interpretation.