Ancient Chinese skeleton reveals nose amputation as punitive practice
Archaeologists uncovered a 700-year-old female skeleton in Henan with a surgically removed nose, confirming historical accounts of medieval Chinese punishments.
In 2019 a burial site in Henan province yielded the skeleton of a woman aged roughly 40 to 45 at death. Researchers led by Yawei Zhou of Zhengzhou University dated the remains to the years 1298-1404 CE. Computed-tomography scans revealed that a section of the nasal bone and internal nasal structures had been cut away, whereas the adjacent facial bones and front teeth were unharmed, making an accident unlikely.
The corpse was interred face-down, a practice associated with criminal punishment in medieval China. Evidence of bone regrowth around the nasal opening shows the woman lived for years after the amputation. This discovery provides the first physical proof supporting historical records of nose-amputation as a penalty for offenses such as livestock theft.
