Excarnation of bodies seems to have been common in some paleolithic populations; it's unknown whether cannibalism was involved (ritual flensing or excarnation of dead bodies has precedents in other human cultures that don't habitually practice cannibalism) but it certainly could have been. Mortuary cannibalism is one of the more widespread exceptions -- many cultures have or once had mostly-symbolic forms of it (some forms don't closely resemble modern flesh-eating -- Yanomamo consumption of ground bones and ashes as a funerary gesture, for example), and it may also have emerged as a means of predator regulation -- don't leave around bodies that could attract something big and nasty.