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The largest headhunting event in prehistoric Asia: evidence of mass decapitation at the 4100-year-old Neolithic Age Honghe site, Heilongjiang, China

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Abstract

Decapitation is a deeply rooted form of violence in human history, reflecting the backgrounds of interpersonal conflicts and the development of complex human societies. In this study, the phenomenon of decapitation and its consequences were investigated at a Neolithic Age settlement. In this study, human skeletons from the Honghe site, dated 4100 and 4400 years ago in Northeast China, were investigated. Visual examination and imaging technique were used to examine signs of decapitation. In total, there were 43 individuals that fell victim to multiple headhunting events, including 32 individuals in probably a single headhunting event, which would be the largest known headhunting activity in the Neolithic Age Asia. Moreover, headhunting victims at the Honghe site were exclusively females and juveniles, indicating the cruelty of ancient warfare. Cut marks were observed on the cervical vertebrae of five individuals, indicating that the heads were severed from the ventral side of the neck. Coupled with missing heads, cervical vertebrae at the Honghe site had cut marks from sharp tools, indicating the practice of decapitation. The cutting tools were probably the bone-handled tools with stone blades found in the Honghe area. The Honghe settlement might have been abandoned after the mass headhunting event. This is the first attempt to reconstruct the human headhunting behavior of prehistoric China. The study of headhunting culture would help not only reconstruct the history of violence in Northeast Asia but also probe into the thinking and ideology of human societies of hunter-gatherer-fishers during the Neolithic Age.

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Research data and images will be available in public domain after the completion and publication of the findings. Entities include Jilin University and Texas A&M University.

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Acknowledgements

Ms. Meghann Holt is thanked for editing the English. We are also grateful to Dr. Li Sun for help and support of various kinds.

Funding

Q. W. was supported by the T3 grant from Texas A&M University. Q. Z. was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFC1521607), the Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation for Young Teachers (141111), and Philosophy and Social Science Research Innovation Team Project at Jilin University (2022CXTD17).

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  1. Guoshuai Gao and Qun Zhang are joint first authors and contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioarchaeological Lab, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Guoshuai Gao, **aofan Sun & Quanchao Zhang

  2. School of Archaeology, Jilin University, No 2699, Qian** Ave, Changchun, 130012, China

    Guoshuai Gao, **aofan Sun & Quanchao Zhang

  3. Department of Archaeology, School of History, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Qun Zhang

  4. Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Wei Zhang

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University School of Dentistry, 3302 Gaston Ave, Dallas, TX, 75246, USA

    Qian Wang

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Contributions

G. Gao and Qun Zhang contributed to data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, and drafted the manuscript. X. Sun contributed to data acquisition, analysis. W. Zhang (excavator) contributed to data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation. Quanchao Zhang contributed to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, and drafted and critically revised the manuscript. Q. Wang contributed to conception, design, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, and drafted and critically revised the manuscript. All authors gave final approval and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to Quanchao Zhang or Qian Wang.

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Appendix

Appendix

Fig. 8
figure 8

Burial M104 (male, age at death 35–40 years old). A sword with a bone handle and stone blade (red arrow) was found among grave goods

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Table 3 Dating results
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Gao, G., Zhang, Q., Sun, X. et al. The largest headhunting event in prehistoric Asia: evidence of mass decapitation at the 4100-year-old Neolithic Age Honghe site, Heilongjiang, China. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 15, 144 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01845-x

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