Punitive nasal amputation found in 700-year-old Chinese

A 700-year-old female skull from China provides the first archaeological evidence of punitive nasal amputation. The skeleton of a middle-aged woman was discovered in 2019 during a salvage excavation of the Sanzhiyuan cemetery in Henan province, which contained approximately 300 burials. Radiocarbon dating places her lifetime between 1298 and 1404, a period spanning the end of the Yuan dynasty and the beginning of the Ming. She was buried face-down in a wooden coffin on the cemetery's southern edge, accompanied only by a copper hairpin.

Evidence of punishment

The skull shows clear signs of deliberate facial disfigurement. The woman's two nasal bones were partially amputated, leaving only about half of the bridge of her nose. The nasal opening, or piriform aperture, is enlarged. Several bones inside the nose were broken, with the fractures showing signs of healing at the edges. This combination of injuries would have given the middle of her face a hollow appearance. Researchers concluded the trauma was not accidental.

Historical and punitive context

Nasal amputation was a formal judicial penalty in ancient China. It was one of the 'Five Punishments' in early dynastic times, alongside tattooing, foot amputation, castration, and death. The practice is first recorded in Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions from 1600-1046 BCE, depicted as a knife beside the nose. Historical texts indicate that by the end of the Yuan Dynasty, crimes like theft or adultery could be punished by nasal amputation. Study co-author Qian Wang, a biological anthropologist at Texas A&M University, noted that in ancient China’s agriculture-based economy, theft of livestock such as cattle and donkeys was not uncommon.

Analysis and interpretation

Bioarchaeologists argue the disfigurement was likely punitive, an interpretation strengthened by the unusual burial. The face-down position and isolation from other graves suggest social rejection. Qian Wang said: "We believe this woman was a kind of cast-off after death. She was buried face-down, suggesting a discriminatory attitude." While disease or a birth defect could not be fully excluded, researchers view judicial punishment as the strongest explanation. The healed bone edges prove the woman survived the procedure, living with the disfigurement for some time afterwards.

Research and significance

The case was identified in 2024 during a reanalysis of the cemetery skeletons by first author Yawei Zhou, an archaeologist at Zhengzhou University. The study was conducted as part of the Global History of Health Project's Asia Module, led by Qian Wang, and published in the November issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Until this discovery, evidence for punitive nasal amputation in China came solely from historical texts. Wang stated he was surprised, as no scientific report of penal nasal amputation in archaeological skeletons had been published before. He believes there could be many such cases in history. Researchers now plan to screen additional skeletons from the site and other contexts for similar trauma, hoping to find more evidence of who was subjected to this punishment and how it was managed. Elizabeth Berger, a bioarchaeologist at the University of California, Riverside, who was not involved in the study, said the research makes a convincing case and opens the door to investigating how such punishments were carried out and medically managed, including the potential use of prosthetics.