A recent archaeological study has uncovered an extraordinary cultural phenomenon in Neolithic China: the systematic modification of human bones.In the journal Scientific Reports, the research documents the first and only known example of this practice in prehistoric China, adding another window into the Liangzhu civilization that existed in the Yangtze River Delta from around 5,300 to 4,500 years ago.
Liangzhu culture is most famous for its urbanization, earthwork tombs, water control systems, and jade objects. At its height, Liangzhu society built large walled settlements with palaces, workshops, and cemeteries, which demonstrated high levels of organization and social stratification. Among these achievements, archaeologists now recognize a previously unknown aspect of liangzhu life: the shaping of human bones into distinctive forms.
From a total of 183 human bones examined, 52 showed intentional modification. Such remains, often found discarded in moats and canals, appeared in various forms. Best known are skull cups, created by horizontally cutting the calvarium to form bowl-like shapes. Other forms include mask-like skulls split across the face, mandibles with flattened bases, limb bones shaped for possible use as tools, and small skull pieces roughly worked into plate-like forms. One extremely rare find was a child’s skull bearing two polished perforations and abrasions on its surface, a piece with no known parallels in Chinese archaeology.
Remarkably, nearly 80 percent of the bones were left unfinished, suggesting deliberate abandonment or that the material was not highly valued as rare or sacred. Many of these finds came from Zhongjiagang, a main workshop site within the Liangzhu urban complex, suggesting a standardized process rather than isolated or symbolic behavior. Radiocarbon analysis shows that most of this activity occurred between 4,800 and 4,600 years ago, during the peak of Liangzhu’s cultural power.