14th-century woman in China lost her nose to amputation — likely as punishment for stealing or adultery

A 700-year-old female skull found in a Chinese cemetery is the world's first archaeological example of punitive nose amputation, according to a new study. The middle-aged woman survived the ruthless punishment, which may have been administered for stealing or for adultery.

"We believe this woman was a kind of cast-off after death. She was buried face-down, suggesting a discriminatory attitude," study co-author Qian Wang, a biological anthropologist at Texas A&M University, told Live Science in an email. "Her burial, alone, in a place without her family or community, could be a decision of disapproval."

The woman's skeleton was discovered among 300 others in 2019 during an excavation of the Sanzhiyuan cemetery in China's eastern Henan province, according to Wang and colleagues' study, which was published in the November issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. She had been buried face down in a wooden coffin on the southern edge of the cemetery, with only a copper hairpin. Read Entire Article