Many remains of unusual height were found in newly excavated ancient tombs in Shandong, China.
Chinese archaeologists discovered remains in a 5-millennium-old tomb in Shandong province that were unusually tall, Xinhua reported yesterday. The remains of a man in the grave were up to 1.9 meters tall, while several others were over 1.8 meters tall.
“If this person were still alive, his height would definitely be over 1.9 meters,” said Fang Hui, dean of Shandong University’s School of History and Culture.
Since 2016, archaeologists have excavated the ruins of 104 houses, 205 tombs and 20 sacrificial pits in Xiaojia village in Zhangqiu district of Jinan city, capital of Shandong province.
These relics belong to the Longshan culture, a late Neolithic civilization in the middle and lower branches of the Yellow River, named after the Longshan mountain in Zhangqiu. “At that time, agriculture had developed. People had abundant and nutritious food sources, so their body shape changed,” Fang said.
Fang said millet is the main food crop in the region. In addition, people also raise pigs because in some graves there are still traces of pig bones and teeth.
According to research, taller men lie in larger graves, and they are more likely to have high status and good food. Outstanding height is one of the outstanding characteristics of Shandong people. Confucius (551-479 BC) was also a native of Shandong and was about 1.9 meters tall. In 2015, the average height of 18-year-olds in Shandong was 1.753 meters, far exceeding the national average of 1.72 meters.
The ruins of row houses in the excavation area show that ancient Shandong people lived quite comfortably with separate bedrooms and kitchens. Wang Fen, leader of the Tieu Gia excavation team, said they also found colorful ceramics and jade objects in six large tombs.
This area was the cultural, economic, and political center in northern Shandong 5,000 years ago. The Tieu Gia site has been expanded from the original 240,000 square meters to one square kilometer . The research team has only excavated 2,000 m2 .
According to According to Vnexpress
