The 4000-Year-Old “Longshan Giant” Discovered in Shaanxi Province, China

Abstract

A human skeleton of phenomenal size was uncovered during the excavation of a prehistoric site located in the city of Shangnan, Shaanxi province, China, in 2006. The skeleton dates to 4240–4100 cal yr BP, corresponding to the Longshan culture (4400–4000 yr ago). The skeletal characteristics point to a young male 16–18 yr old with a height of 193 cm. This is the tallest skeleton ever discovered in prehistoric China, and thus we name him the “Longshan Giant.” The giant appears to be of the Mongoloid race and has many physical characteristics that are similar to those of modern southern Asians. Upon closer examination, 3 drilled holes of 5 cm in diameter were found in the right parietal bone of the skull. No rationale exists yet to explain the presence of these holes.

14C dating and isotopic analysis (δ13C and δ15N) of “The Giant”

“…The carbon and nitrogen isotopes were measured relative to the V-PDB and AIR standards, respectively. The results indicate that the values for d 13 C and d 15 N are À8.40 AE 1.9& and 8.84 AE 2.0&, respectively, which is similar to collagen (Yang and Zhu, 2010) (Table 1).…”

“…Collagen dating yielded an age of 3830 AE 30 BP (4240e4100 cal yr BP) (Yang and Zhu, 2010), and therefore the collagen age is statistically the same as the gelatin age. Both ages lie in the late Longshan cultural period, in good agreement with the cultural context of the burial site, as inferred from pottery remains found in the nearby village.…”

“…The young man belongs to the Mongolian family, with many of his physical features very similar to modern Mongolians living in South Asia (Du and Fan, 2008;Li, 2008;Yang and Zhu, 2010). The archaeologist reassembled the skeletal remains in the lab to verify the onsite height measurement.…”

“…Therefore, it is unsuitable to determine the age only by dating one material (collagen). In order to have a more reliable result, the bone samples were further pretreated by the gelatin-extraction method Yuan et al, 2000) so as to crosscheck previous research (Yang and Zhu, 2010).…”