Researchers Recreate Face of 5,000-Year-Old Man from Hongshan Culture

Chinese researchers have digitally recreated the facial contours and features of a man from the Hongshan culture, during the Neolithic period, roughly 5,000-years-old. Using advanced 3D technology, the 25–30-year-old was recreated from a relatively well-preserved skull excavated from a Hongshan culture tomb in Chaoyang, Liaoning.

Researchers from the Liaoning provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology and the School of Archaeology at Jilin University used their powers and brought in various disciplines – anthropology, anatomy, computer science, and art. They determined the individual’s gender, age, and recreated facial features down to the T (literally) – eye, skin, and hair color included!

The anthropologists helped with contextual knowledge about cultural markers and lifestyle, while the anatomists helped with the skull structure and other facial details. Extracting and studying ancient DNA was tough, and so was corroboration, given the absence of details and written record. Over 4 million points on the skulls had to be recorded for data-processing before any conclusions could be drawn.

“It is the first reconstruction based on an actual Hongshan ancestor’s skull. The reconstructed face can be considered the closest to reality achieved to date,” deputy director Li Hiabo told Xinhua.

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China’s 3D Revolution: A Wonder of Modernity

Currently, China’s 3D revolution to reconstruct archaeological sites and shape a key role in its historical reconstruction is well underway, to significant progress. Earlier this year, in May, the Hunan Museum in Changsha had a few archaeologists reveal a digital 3D-image of Xin Zhui, an immaculately preserved mummy from 2,200 years ago.

In September, archaeologists from Henan Province provided a facial reconstruction of two Neolithic men from near the Yellow River – the first man was alive around 5,600 years ago, and the latter, 4,000 years ago, reports The Greek Reporter.

As ancient China is being unmapped for the world, archaeologists are slowly learning certain irrefutable truths. Firstly, the physical characteristics of most prehistoric populations are largely consistent with modern populations; second, modern technology is paving the way for understanding our ancestors unlike ever before, which makes this space evermore exciting and thriving.

• Chinese civilization may have begun 2,400 years earlier than previously thought
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The C-shaped jade dragon of Hongshan Culture. (Prof. Gary Lee Todd/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Honghsan Culture

Originating in northeast China, the Hongshan culture is renowned for being the pivotal historical transformation in the development of early Chinese society, with an important shift towards state formation in ancient China.

In 2023, meticulous excavations revealed a large settlement, hundreds of smaller sites, with the numbers at over 500 in Liaoning Province alone, reports Global Times. A late Neolithic period culture, from somewhere between 6,500-5,000 years ago, Hongshan extended throughout a 200,000 square kilometer (77.22 sq mi)  area of the West ­Liaohe River Basin.

Renowned for its carved jade, particularly pig dragons and embryo dragons, Hongshan burial artifacts are some of the earliest examples of jade working. Incidentally, some of the earliest examples of feng shui have also been found from the site!

"The Hongshan Culture has always been known for its highly developed jade and pottery handicraft and mature sacrificial system, all of which required the support of a stable and prosperous society," Zhang Huizhi, a Beijing-based archaeological research fellow, told the Global Times in the same report.

With 80% of the diet dependent on millet cultivation, some of the earliest examples of sophisticated tool making in Asia emerge from this region, particularly stone axes. With stone axes decreasing in proportion to adzes, it was likely that by the late Neolithic, the Hongshan people were shifting towards permanent agriculture, corroborated by contemporaneous evidence.

Top image: This image, provided by China's Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, illustrates the steps in reconstructing the face of a Neolithic man from the Hongshan culture.  Source: Xinhua

By Sahir Pandey