Headless, Kneeling Skeleton Found in Central China

HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Xinhua report, archaeologists from the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Jiyuan Municipal Cultural Relics Team have uncovered a headless human skeleton in a pit at central China’s Chaizhuang site, which dates to the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1050 B.C.). The remains were found facing north in a kneeling position with hands crossed in front, suggesting that the person had been beheaded as a human sacrifice. Oracle bones bearing glyphs describing such a practice have been found at the Yin Ruins, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. At Chaizhuang, the researchers found an oracle bone bearing the “Kan” glyph, which is associated with sacrificing people and livestock in pits and upright burials. Houses, wells, stoves, roads, pottery, bones, jewelry, and tombs have also been uncovered at the site. To read about an earlier burial in Henan that contained cow and ram sacrifices, go to "Tomb from a Lost Tribe."