Long before the rise of China's imperial dynasties, the people of Shimao built massive stone walls, buried their elite in lavish tombs, and organized society in ways that still seem strikingly familiar.
Genetic studies are clarifying this picture, revealing both the origins of this population, which existed 4,000 years ago, and how brutal some of its rituals were.
What's happened?
A study published in the journal Nature and reported by the South China Morning Post examined human remains from the Neolithic site of Shimao in Shaanxi Province and found that human sacrifices there were organised according to gender.
The city of Shimao was inhabited from around 2300 to 1800 BC, and its stone fortifications were once mistaken for part of the Great Wall of China until jade discoveries revealed the site to be much older.
Using ancient DNA data, the researchers found that male and female victims were buried in different locations, indicating different ritual roles.
Men were concentrated at the eastern gate, and women were buried near the elite cemeteries.
The newspaper reports that a team of researchers said the men may have been sacrificed as part of rituals related to the construction of the wall, while the women were likely sacrificed as part of "ancestor veneration" meant to honor nobles or rulers.
The study also showed that the Shimao people were descended from the earlier Yangshao culture, and were not aliens who seized control of the area.
Why is this important?
For such an ancient site, such concrete evidence is unusual, especially given that traditional archaeology has often struggled to answer basic questions about the people who lived there.
DNA analysis can reveal family ties, migration patterns, and power structures in ways that pottery and stone wall fragments cannot.
At Shimao, scientists were able to see not only the fact of sacrifices, but also how social status and gender may have influenced them.
«"The lack of kinship links between the owners of elite tombs and the people sacrificed in those tombs may indicate that burials were concentrated around the social elite and their families, and that sacrifice was carried out according to social status," the authors wrote, as reported by SCMP.
The findings also complicate simple invasion theories. The Shimao population appears to have developed locally, selectively mixing with neighboring groups, including the Taoxi communities and the Yuming groups in Inner Mongolia.
What is being done?
Researchers are applying more sophisticated DNA analysis techniques to ancient sites to explore questions that older methods could not fully answer.
This includes determining the kinship relationships between people, the facts of migration or mixing of populations, and the ways in which leadership was transmitted.
In Shimao, the evidence shows that power remained in the hands of elite families for several generations, indicating a stable hierarchy that in some ways resembled later hereditary rule.
The results also show that even under a seemingly patriarchal system, women were able to reach the highest leadership positions.
«"Ancient DNA studies are interesting because they allow us to see the history of previous populations. For example, by comparing ancient DNA results from one site with other previously obtained genetic samples, we can determine whether groups were related to each other or migrated to different parts of Asia," said Michael Rivera, a biological anthropologist and bioarchaeologist at the University of Hong Kong, who was not involved in the study.
«"They weren't recent migrants or conquerors, but developed locally and were connected to communities in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia," Rivera told SCMP. "...I think the way identities and social hierarchies could be regulated by the elites of that time is really interesting. There's a whole complex of political processes going back 4,000 years, and it's fascinating to study.".
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