Unusual sacrificed human bones found

Archaeologists from Henan province have excavated a human skeleton in a sacrificial pit dating back to the late Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) in the Chaizhuang Ruins.

The person who was sacrificed had been beheaded. The skeleton was facing north in a kneeling position, with both hands crossed in front. It is positioned like the oracle bone inscription of the character kan.

It is rare to find a sacrificed human in such a configuration, said Liang Fawei, who is in charge of the excavation of the ruins in Jiyuan.

Records of oracle bone inscriptions unearthed at the Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Henan, in 1928, indicate that sacrificial culture prevailed in the Shang Dynasty, and hieroglyphs such as she, shi, tan and kan were used to describe different rituals. The character kan depicts human and domestic animal sacrifices in pits, Liang said.