Earliest-known intentionally deformed human cranium from Asia

Ni, Xijun; Li, Qiang; Stidham, Thomas A.; Yang, Yangheshan; Ji, Qiang; Chen, Jin; Samiullah, Khizar

doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01045-x

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…More than 70 species have been reported from this area. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 Fossils collected from the deposits in the Songhua River near the Dongjiang Bridge are mainly from the upper yellowish-brown muddy silt layers (∼Guxiangtun Formation/Harbin Formation), and the grayish mud and silt (∼upper part of the Upper Huangshan Formation). The U-series dating on the fossil samples from seven mammals and two human individuals ( Figures S1 and S2 ) yielded two groups of apparent ages, ranging from 9 ± 4 to 34.6 ± 0.3 ka, and from 132.6 ± 0.4 to 201 ± 1 ka ( Table S3 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

Shao

et al. 2021

The Innovation

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Unsystematic recovery of the Harbin fossil cranium and a long history since the discovery impede its accurate dating -Geochemical analyses, including non-destructive X-ray fluorescence, rare earth elements, and the strontium isotopes, suggest that the fossil cranium was from a bed of lacustrine sediments aged between 138 and 309 thousand years ago in the Harbin region -Uranium-series disequilibrium dating directly on the cranium suggests that the cranium is older than 146 thousand years ll www.cell.com/the-innovation

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

Shao

et al. 2021

The Innovation

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“…Lack of archeological context brings a limitation for convincingly inferring the ICD motives in this area. However, the rarity of ICD among all the fossil and subfossil skulls discovered from the Songhuajiang area suggests that ICD was a very selective behavior and highly suggestive of the presence of social or cultural differentiation (Ni et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stable isotope analyses indicate that the northeast region of China was dominated by hunter–gatherers at the time of terminal Pleistocene‐early Holocene (Ni et al, 2020). The ages of Songhuajiang I and Songhuajiang II differ ~300 years, but the ICD method is the same, suggesting that ICD in the Songhuajiang area did not emerge by accident but lasted for at least hundreds of years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ICD, or intentional cranial deformation, refers to the permanent deformation of skull caused by the application of external forces during infancy (Dingwall, 1931;Tiesler, 2014). The undoubted earliestknown ICD cranium from Asia, Songhuajiang I, was from the Dadingzi Hill underwater sand mining site in the Songhuajiang River, about 20 km east to the Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China (Ni et al, 2020). With a radiocarbon age of 11, 245-11,200 cal. BP, Songhuajiang I is also among the earliest-known ICD practice in the world (Ni et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The undoubted earliestknown ICD cranium from Asia, Songhuajiang I, was from the Dadingzi Hill underwater sand mining site in the Songhuajiang River, about 20 km east to the Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China (Ni et al, 2020). With a radiocarbon age of 11, 245-11,200 cal. BP, Songhuajiang I is also among the earliest-known ICD practice in the world (Ni et al, 2020). Here, we report another human cranium, Songhuajiang II (IVPP PA1616), discovered from the same sand mining site in the Songhuajiang River near the Harbin City, where Songhuajiang I was recovered (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A 10 ka intentionally deformed human skull from Northeast Asia

Yin

Zhang

et al. 2022

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The oldest‐known undoubted cultural practices of intentional cranial deformation (ICD, also known as artificial cranial modification) appeared in the Middle East, Australia, and Northeast China in the terminal Pleistocene‐early Holocene populations. Here, we report an ICD calvarium fossil (Songhuajiang II) discovered from an underwater sand mining site near Harbin City in Northeast China. With a calibrated accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon age of 11,095–10,745 BP, the fossil calvarium is among the oldest‐known ICD records in the world. A combination of pronounced superciliary arches, salient temporal lines, and relatively round and dull supraorbital margin, together with moderately wide interorbital space, flat glabella region without infraglabellar notch, flat and small zygomatic trigon, round and inclined superior‐lateral orbital margin, and largely closed sutures, suggests that Songhuajiang II skull belonged to a middle‐aged Asian man. The man has flat frontal and occipital bone, conical posterior parietal region, and a circular depression posterior to the coronal suture, and more subdivisions and many crenulated terminal branches on the anterior branch of the middle meningeal vessels. These features are typical for the tabular deformation methodology of ICD. The discovery, together with previously known ICD records (Songhuajiang I, Qianguo Man Qingshantou 1, and Djalai‐Nor cranium), suggests that the ICD cultural practice has a long and continuous history in Northeast Asia.

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Using the morphometric approach to analyze artificially modified crania from the late fifth millennium BCE settlement of Chega Sofla, southwestern Iran

Alirezazadeh,

Vahdati Nasab,

Moghaddam

2024

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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There have been archaeological and ethnographic reports of artificially modified crania from all continents. Archaeological excavations at the late fifth millennium BCE cemetery of Tol‐e Chega Sofla, located southwest of the Iranian plateau, also revealed these crania. This paper uses the morphometric approach to study Tol‐e Chega Sofla's modified crania. The outlines of normal and modified crania of Chega Sofla and Khuzestan residents' specimens were considered. How accurate is the morphometric approach in identifying and recognizing Chega Sofla's modified skulls from normal ones? Can it recognize small variations in the skull's morphology, such as the flattening of the squamous part of the occipital bone? The results of this method can be compared with descriptive studies. Finally, it is shown that the morphometric approach based on Elliptic Fourier Analysis can identify the deformed skull of Chega Sofla and its intensity, as well as the flattening of the squamous part of the occipital bone.

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Earliest-known intentionally deformed human cranium from Asia

Cited by 5 publications

References 38 publications

Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

A 10 ka intentionally deformed human skull from Northeast Asia

Using the morphometric approach to analyze artificially modified crania from the late fifth millennium BCE settlement of Chega Sofla, southwestern Iran

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