X-post from Tim 't Hart's EastAsianArch list.
With kind permission.

****************

Beheaded skeletons replay war history

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed some 30 beheaded skeletons dating back
more than 2,000 years in central China's Henan Province, a cradle of the
Chinese civilization.

The skeletons were obviously warriors, the tallest of whom was at least 1.85
meters, said Sun Xinmin, head of the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural
Heritage and Archeology.

The human remains were found scattered in a pit in the city of Xinzheng,
adjacent to a major battlefield where State Qin overthrew State Han toward
the end of the Warring States Period (475 to 221 BC), said Sun.

He and his peers are working hard to collect and preserve the findings as an
expressway linking the provincial capital Zhengzhou will soon start to be
built there.

Sun said the skeletons must have belonged to soldiers of State Han and their
heads were likely taken by the Qin warriors who intended to receive a
promotion based on the number of enemy troops they killed.

Some of the skeletons still disclose evidence of being slashed by by
broadswords and many were burned, he said.

Rest at:
http://english.people.com.cn/200604/19/eng20060419_259575.html

 

 

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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