Name: Beinan Skull

Period: Late Neolithic (approximately 5,300-2,300 years ago)

Excavation Site: Beinan Archeological Site, Taitung City, Taiwan, China

Repository: National Museum of Prehistory, Taiwan

The Beinan Archeological Site, with a total area of over 200,000 square meters, is the most representative Neolithic settlement site in Taiwan. Located near the Beinan Mountain in the northwestern region of Taitung County, the site has been undergone 13 archaeological excavations. According to carbon-14 dating, the Beinan Archeological Site dates back 5,300 to 2,300 years ago.

What makes the Beinan Archeological Site remarkable is the discovery of over a thousand burials in stone coffins. These burials are distributed in groups, varied in form, and complex in structure. Most of the burials are single burials, and a few are multiple burials. The burial goods are abundant, including pottery and jade jewelry such as jade earrings. Some of the deceased had their faces covered with broken pottery, and most intriguingly, some had their lateral incisors in the upper jaw removed.

The mysterious custom of dental mutilation

The Beinan skull had a pair of lateral incisors in the upper jaw intentionally removed, which is a typical of the practice of dental mutilation.

With the accumulation of prehistoric archaeological findings in China, more archaeological evidence related to dental mutilation practice has been discovered. The earliest discovery of dental mutilation was in the Dawenkou Culture, including the Dawenkou Site in Tai'an, the Xixiahou site in Qufu, the Wangyin site in Yanzhou and the Sanlihe site in Jiao County in Shandong Province, the Dadunzi Site in Pi County in northern Jiangsu Province. These date back to around 6,500 years ago and have yielded a wealth of dental mutilation skulls, indicating the widespread prevalence of dental mutilation practice in these regions.

However, this once popular practice suddenly disappeared in the Longshan Culture that followed the Dawenkou Culture.

Strangely, however, abundant evidence of dental mutilation has been found in the Majiabang Culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, such as the Wudun site in Changzhou (about 6,000 years ago), the Songze site in Shanghai (about 4,000 years ago), the Tanshishan site in Minhou, Fujian (about 3,300 years ago), the Hedang site in Foshan, Guangdong (about 4,000 years ago) in the Pearl River Basin, and the Jinlansi site in Zengcheng (about 4,500 years ago). Additionally, evidence of dental mutilation has also been found in the Xichuan site in Henan (about 4500 years ago) and the Qilihe site in Fang County, Hubei (about 4,900 years ago), among other sites in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Thus, we can see a clear picture of the spread of the dental mutilation practice during the Neolithic period:

It originated in the Dawenkou Culture in Shandong and northern Jiangsu over 6,500 years ago, it then spread southward to the Majiabang Culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and further extended to the Qijialing Culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Lingnan regions, and Taiwan. After the Dawenkou Culture was replaced by the emerging Longshan Culture, the practice of dental mutilation disappeared completely in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, but continued to be widely practiced and spread to the southern regions.

The Dawenkou culture belongs to the Dongyi cultural system, while the Majiabang Culture belongs to the Baiyue cultural system. From the evolution of the dental mutilation practice, one can see the close connection between the Dongyi Culture and the Baiyue Culture. In fact, some archaeological evidence has shown that the formation and development of the Baiyue group is probably related to the southward migration of the Dongyi ancestors.

The practice of dental mutilation existed among the Baiyue groups for a long time. Historical records contain numerous accounts of dental mutilation among ancient groups in southwestern China, such as the Liao, Gelao, Pu, and Li tribes, as depicted in the Qing Dynasty's Baimiao Tu (Miao Album). In fact, even until modern times, some ethnic groups in southwestern China, Lingnan, Taiwan, and other regions continued to practice dental mutilation.

Shared cultural genes across the Taiwan Strait

The ancient, mysterious evolution and spread of the practice of dental mutilation vividly illustrates the prehistoric cultural transmission and integration of the Chinese nation.

Taiwan falls within the distribution range of the Baiyue group. This skull, with its dental mutilation features, objectively demonstrates the shared cultural genes of the ancestors of Taiwan and those of the southeastern China.

Finally, one may ask why there was dental mutilation. Scholars have tried to solve the mystery. Since dental mutilation was generally performed between the ages of 14 and 15, coinciding with the physiological period of sexual maturity, it might serve as a rite of passage into adulthood. Some scholars also believe that dental mutilation is related to a primitive form of marriage and may be a product of the exogamous marriage system in the Neolithic period.

Source: Becoming the Chinese Nation: The historical memories of multi-ethnic Chinese Nation in 100 cultural relics

Liu Xian /Editor    Yang Yan /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Liu Xian /Coordination Editor

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

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