First Skeletal Evidence of Nose Amputation as Punishment in Ancient China, Found in a Henan Grave

A woman buried at the Sanzhiyuan cemetery in Henan province, China, lost part of her nose while she was alive. A study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports calls it the first skeletal evidence of facial mutilation as a form of punishment from ancient China. Radiocarbon dating places her life between 1298 and 1404 CE, during the Yuan or early Ming dynasty. Yawei Zhou of Zhengzhou University and Qian Wang of Texas A&M University led the work.

What the skull shows

Excavators dug up about 300 skeletons at Sanzhiyuan in 2019, in a rapid salvage dig ahead of construction. Zhou reviewed the skeletons in 2024 and spotted this woman’s skull. Her nasal opening is enlarged, and both nasal bones are partly cut away, leaving about half of the nose bridge. Several inner nasal bones are broken and show healing at the edges, so she survived for several years after the injury. She lay face down in a wooden coffin on the southern edge of the cemetery, with only a copper hairpin.

Why the authors suspect punishment

Nose amputation was one of the “Five Punishments” of early dynastic China, alongside tattooing, foot amputation, castration and death. Oracle bone inscriptions from the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BCE) show the punishment, with a knife beside a nose. The authors suggest theft of livestock, such as cattle or donkeys, or adultery as possible crimes. Qian Wang said the woman was “a kind of cast-off after death.”

What remains uncertain

The team could not fully rule out disease or a birth defect, but they favor nasal amputation as punishment. The skeleton cannot show the crime, and the study describes a single woman.

Sources: Zhou et al., Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2026), DOI 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.106031; Live Science, 22 September 2026.