Archaeologists in Henan province have identified a skull that bears what they say is the most persuasive archaeological evidence yet that a person survived an intentional nose amputation used as a judicial penalty in medieval China.
Discovery and dating
The skeleton, unearthed in 2019 during salvage excavations at the Sanzhiyuan cemetery, belongs to a middle‑aged woman. She was buried face down inside a wooden coffin on the southern edge of the burial ground; the only grave good was a copper hairpin. Radiocarbon analysis places her life between 1298 and 1404, a period spanning the late Yuan dynasty and the opening years of the Ming.
| Attribute | Observation |
|---|---|
| Find site | Sanzhiyuan cemetery, Henan province |
| Dating | 1298–1404 (radiocarbon) |
| Burial position | Face down, wooden coffin, southern outskirts |
Evidence the injury was deliberate
When the remains were first recovered, the unusual condition of the nasal region went unnoticed. It was only during a later detailed analysis in 2024 by Zhengzhou University archaeologist Yawei Zhou that researchers recognised a markedly enlarged, pear‑shaped nasal aperture and clear loss of part of the nasal bones. The team reported:
- Both nasal bones were partially removed, leaving roughly half the nasal bridge intact.
- There were fractures with signs of healing on bones inside the nasal cavity, indicating the injuries occurred during life.
- The pattern of damage and subsequent healing suggests the woman lived for several years after the nasal tissue was removed.
Those anatomical details underpin the authors’ interpretation that this was not merely a congenital deformity or the result of disease. While the team did not categorically exclude other causes, they argue the most likely explanation is an intentional amputation carried out as punishment.
Context in legal history
The paper situates the find against legal practices recorded in early dynastic China, where corporal penalties are known from textual sources. Nose removal without anaesthesia is cited historically as one of the so‑called five punishments, alongside tattooing, foot amputation, castration and capital punishment. The researchers note that face‑down burial on the outskirts of a cemetery may further signal social stigma attached to the individual.
Study co‑author Qian Wang, a biological anthropologist, proposed that offences such as livestock theft or adultery could have led to such penalties in that legal milieu — examples consistent with documentary records, though the archaeological material cannot resolve the exact charge the woman faced.
Why this matters
This case matters because direct osteological evidence for deliberate nasal amputation from archaeological contexts is exceptionally rare. Texts can describe punishments; bones can confirm their physical impact. When both lines of evidence align, researchers can better assess how legal practices affected individual bodies and social status in the past.
The find also underscores the value of re‑examination of previously excavated collections. The injury was not recognised during the initial salvage work but emerged when the material was subjected to careful osteological study years later — a reminder that museum and university collections continue to yield new insights as analytical techniques and specialist attention improve.
Further publication details, including the full osteological analysis and the authors’ discussion of alternative explanations, will be important for specialists evaluating the strength of the interpretation. For now, the Henan skull stands as the most concrete archaeological candidate to date for nose amputation carried out as a judicial sanction in medieval China.
