East Asians may have been reshaping their skulls 12,000 years ago
Fossils expand the known distribution of the ancient practice beyond Europe and Central Asia
By Bruce Bower
Ancient tombs in China have produced what may be some of the oldest known human skulls to be intentionally reshaped.
At a site called Houtaomuga, scientists unearthed 25 skeletons dating to between around 12,000 years ago and 5,000 years ago. Of those, 11 featured skulls with artificially elongated braincases and flattened bones at the front and back of the head, says a team led by bioarchaeologist Quanchao Zhang and paleoanthropologist Qian Wang.
Skull modification occurred over a longer stretch of time at the site than at any other archaeological dig, the researchers report online June 25 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.