DNA Links Yunnan’s Bo People to the Ancient Builders of China’s Hanging Coffins
For centuries, people in southwest China placed coffins on sheer cliff faces. Historians long believed the builders vanished after the Ming dynasty. A 2025 DNA study in Nature Communications now links them to the Bo people who still live in Yunnan.
The cliff coffin tradition
Communities in southern China hung or wedged wooden coffins on cliffs for roughly 2,000 years. Archaeologists have long debated who practiced the custom, because written records fade after the Ming period.
What the DNA shows
The team compared ancient DNA from hanging coffin sites in Yunnan with DNA from modern populations. The genetic match points to the Bo people, so the cliff burial communities did not disappear. Their descendants stayed in the region.
What to keep in mind
The study works from a small number of individuals, so the link is strong evidence, not a final answer for every site. The researchers also describe the practice as one tradition across a long span of time, and more sites could refine that picture.
Sources
Related Articles
