Ancient Rituals Unearthed: Systematic โฃBone โModificationโ Reveals a darker Side of China’s Liangzhu Civilization
Yangtze River Delta, China – A groundbreaking archaeological study hasโ revealed a startling and previously โunknown practice within the refined Neolithic โLiangzhu civilization (c.โฃ 5300-4500 years ago): the systematic modification of human bones. Published in the journal Scientific Reports,the research details the โfirstโ documented evidence of this practice in prehistoric China,offering a โchilling new viewpointโค on a culture renowned for its advancements in urbanization,jade working,and social organization.
Theโ Liangzhu โคcivilization, flourishing in theโฃ Yangtze โฃRiver Delta, was a society marked by โขextraordinary achievements. They constructed large, walledโข settlements complete with palaces, workshops, and elaborate cemeteries – testaments toโค a โhighlyโข structured andโข stratified society. โ however, this latest discovery suggests a more complex โandโค unsettling aspect of Liangzhu life.
Researchers examined 183 human bones, discovering that 52 โexhibited โdeliberate alterations. โThese โขweren’tโฃ isolated incidents; the modifications took a variety of โขforms, indicating a standardized process rather than โขsporadic, โฃindividual acts.โฃ The โขmost โฃstriking finds include:
* Skullโ Cups: Created byโ horizontally cutting the skullcap to โฃform bowl-like vessels.
*โ Mask-like Skulls: โ Split across the face, โpotentially used in โฃritualistic contexts.
* โค Modified Mandibles: โฃLower jaws withโค flattened bases.
* Shaped Limb Bones: Likely repurposed as tools.
* Smallโฃ Skull Fragments: Roughly worked into plate-like โคshapes.
Perhaps the most haunting discovery was a child’s skull bearing polished perforations โand โabrasions – a unique find with no precedentโข in Chinese archaeology.
“[Image of Mask-like facial skull (Type B) with caption: Mask-like facial skull (Type B). scale bar is 5 cm. Credit: J. Sawada et al., Scientific Reports (2025) / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]”
What’s particularlyโ intriguing is that nearly 80% of the modified bones were unfinished.โฃ This suggests the material itself wasn’t considered particularly โฃvaluable or sacred, and the process may have been abandoned mid-way through. โค The concentration of these finds at Zhongjiagang, a major workshopโ site within the Liangzhu urban complex, further supports the idea โคof a standardized, perhaps even institutionalized, practice.
“[image of Skull with posterior perforations (Type D) with caption: Skull with posterior perforations (type D). Scale bar is 5 cm.Credit: J. Sawada et al., Scientific Reports (2025) / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0]”
Radiocarbon dating places the majority โof this bone modification activityโค between โค4,800 and 4,600 years ago – coinciding with the peak of Liangzhuโ cultural โขpower