Researchers say a roughly 700-year-old skull from China could mark the first archaeological case anywhere of nose amputation used as punishment, and signs on the bones suggest the woman lived through it.
If that interpretation is correct, the find would offer physical confirmation of a harsh penalty long described in ancient Chinese writings but not previously identified in human remains.
Here's what to know
Radiocarbon testing dated the woman to between 1298 and 1404, placing her in the Yuan or early Ming dynasty. Her skeleton was among about 300 burials uncovered in 2019 at the Sanzhiyuan cemetery in Henan province, Live Science reported.
Her burial circumstances may also point to stigma. The middle-aged woman was placed face-down in a wooden coffin at the cemetery's southern edge and was buried with only a copper hairpin. Live Science reported, citing study co-author Qian Wang of Texas A&M University, a biological anthropologist, that those details suggest she was socially excluded even in death.
"We believe this woman was a kind of cast-off after death. She was buried face-down, suggesting a discriminatory attitude," Wang told Live Science in an email. "Her burial, alone, in a place without her family or community, could be a decision of disapproval."
The skull showed an enlarged nasal opening, partly removed nasal bones, and healed fractures inside the nose, indicating the woman survived the injury long enough for it to mend. Based on that pattern, the study said the most likely explanation was deliberate facial mutilation imposed as punishment, possibly for theft or adultery.
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More background
Until this discovery, evidence for punitive nasal amputation in China had come from historical texts rather than excavated human remains. Written references to the practice go back to Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions, and it was later counted among the so-called "Five Punishments."
According to Live Science, those penalties were tattooing, amputation of the foot, castration, nasal amputation, and death. Wang noted that in ancient China's agriculture-based economy, theft of livestock such as cattle and donkeys was not uncommon.
Researchers said disease or a birth defect could not be fully excluded, but they viewed punishment as the strongest explanation because of the burial context. Wang said, "At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, such a felony was punished by nasal amputation."
What's being done?
Researchers identified the skull's significance only in 2024. As Live Science reported, the study's first author and Zhengzhou University archaeologist Yawei Zhou recognized it as unusual while analyzing the cemetery skeletons in 2024.
Elizabeth Berger of the University of California, Riverside, a bioarchaeologist not involved in the research, said the study makes a persuasive case that the woman's disfigurement resulted from punitive nasal amputation.
Berger said, "Researchers can look for other cases, and hopefully more evidence can be found of who was subjected to this punishment, how it was carried out, and how it was medically managed afterwards, including the use of prosthetics."
According to Live Science, the unusual skull from the Sanzhiyuan cemetery was examined through the Global History of Health Project's Asia Module, led by Wang. "Many more skeletons will be screened in the future for diseases and trauma," Wang said. "Hopefully there will be similar cases to be found in the future in a clearer archaeological context."
"I was surprised by this discovery," Wang said, "because so far no scientific report or description of any cases of penal nasal amputation" in archaeological skeletons has been published. He added, "there could be many cases in history."
Where can I learn more?
Other archaeological discoveries show how bones and artifacts can reveal past status, treatment, and medical care. These stories cover skull analysis in Scotland and Siberia, surgical tools in China, cremated teeth in Poland, and ancient alcohol from a Chinese tomb.
• In Scotland, signs that her brain was removed deepened an Iron Age woman's burial mystery.
• In Siberia, gold-plated earrings beside a skull pointed to an elite woman's wide ties.
• In China, poisonous anesthetic on surgical tools illuminated sophisticated care six centuries ago.
• In Poland, 3,000-year-old urn burials proved cremated teeth can still reveal age.
• In a Chinese tomb, 2000 year old grain alcohol survived, sealed in a mysterious bottle.
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