Recent archaeological excavations in China’s Yangtze River Delta have revealed complex socio-cultural practices of the Neolithic Liangzhu civilization, approximately 5000 years old. Using remains from the Zhongjiagang site, researchers have found that human bones were regularly used as a source of functional and ritual objects such as ‘skull cups’ and ‘skeleton masks’. Unlike normal burials, where the dead were respected, these bones were found deposited in urban canals, suggesting a major change in the way early urban residents viewed human remains.The results of the study, published in Scientific Reports, show that as Liangzhu became urbanized, remains became ‘raw materials’ for functional use and symbolic craft objects rather than being seen as the remains of sacred ancestors.

5,000 year old discovery human bone cup and masks in china

The Scientific Reports study examined 183 human bone fragments for evidence of use as raw material for utilitarian or symbolic crafts. Of the total bones, 52 displayed distinctive features indicating deliberate modification. Skull cups are cranial vaults (the upper part of the head) that have been cut along the horizontal plane, and cranial masks are skulls that have been divided vertically. Both artifacts were apparently modified by scraping, drilling, and polishing, and these artifacts represent the first evidence of systematic human bone working during prehistoric times in East Asia.

Why did early cities recycle their dead?

According to researchers from Niigata University and the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, ‘anonymity’ may have inspired early urban residents to dispose of human remains in a physical way. In densely populated Liangzhu, since urban residents only cared for those they knew and recognized in life, urbanization led to increased social distance from the dead, resulting in many human remains being treated as ‘physical’ rather than sacred.

Technical analysis of bone remodeling

Technical analyzes also indicate that the Liangzhu people used a variety of technical methods to shape the bones. Examination of the bones using high-power magnification reveals striations and pits consistent with the use of stone tools in bone making technology. According to Phys.org, the bones were not only broken, but they were also bruised. In particular, long bones, such as the femur, were shaped into handles or fasteners for tools, while skulls were shaped and treated at a level of precision comparable to the world-famous jade carvings of Liangzhu.

Why were bone artefacts washed into the canals?

The Zhongjiagang area operates as an area for special workshops inside Liangzhu city. These altered human bones were discovered in trenches filled with trash along with animal bones and pottery fragments, indicating that these particular human remains did not serve sacred purposes, unlike the Fan Mountain site (a typical cemetery). The spatial distribution of human remains displays evidence of a complex social hierarchy that preserved elite bodies in jade-filled tombs while reviving non-elite remains as part of the city’s industrial process.