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The Hamin Mangha Site: Mass Deaths and Abandonment of a Late

Neolithic Settlement in Northeastern China

Article  in  Asian Perspectives · June 2022

DOI: 10.1353/asi.2022.0002

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 The Hamin Mangha Site: Mass Deaths and
Abandonment of a Late Neolithic Settlement in
Northeastern China

Yawei ZHOU, Xiaohui NIU, Ping JI, Yonggang ZHU, Hong ZHU, and Meng ZHANG

ABSTRACT
The massive numbers of human skeletons within quickly abandoned Late Neolithic
pithouses at the Hamin Mangha site in Northeast China seems to imply an event of
prehistoric tragedy. Based on the results of bioarchaeological investigation, this article
aims to explain the causes of abandonment of the settlement after several houses were
burned and reasons for the large numbers of human skeletons found in several houses.
Depositional, contextual, and bioarchaeological data are provided to test several
hypotheses on the cause of mass human death at this site. KEYWORDS: Hamin Mangha,
mass deaths, site abandonment, plague, bioarchaeology.

INTRODUCTION

Variation and change in the Neolithic archaeological record in prehistoric China has
received more attention by Chinese and international scholars since the multiregional
pattern of archaeological cultures during the Neolithic and multiregional development
of civilization in China theories have been proposed (Liu and Chen 2012; Su 2000). In
recent decades, within the context of interdisciplinary research and international
cooperation, the focus has turned from cultural-historical sequencing to studying
human adaptation, social change, and cultural dynamics. A series of new theories,
including the Palaeolithic to Neolithic Transition, Neolithization, identity formation,
highland Longshan society, and others have been proposed to form new approaches
(Chen 2014; Chen and Yu 2017; Li 2018; Liu and Chen 2012; Shelach 2008).
Compared with the much more fully-studied region of China around the Yellow
and Yangtze rivers, considered the heart of Chinese civilization, the prehistory of
northeastern China is much less known, though more and more archaeologists have
been devoting themselves to this region over the past two decades (Shelach 2006; Zhao
2003; Zhu 2017). Before discussing the Hamin Mangha site, the subject of the current

Yawei Zhou is a Professor and Xiaohui Niu is a graduate student at the History College of
Zhengzhou University. Ping Ji is a Professor at the Relics Conservation Center of Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region. Yonggang Zhu and Hong Zhu are Professors at the School of Archaeology at
Jilin University. Meng Zhang (corresponding author) is a Junior Research Fellow in the Department
of Cultural Heritage and Museology and the Institute of Archaeological Science at Fudan University.
Asian Perspectives, Vol. 61, No. 1 © 2022 by the University of Hawai‘i Press.
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 29

Fig. 1. Location of Liaoxi and Ke’erqin and two Late Neolithic sites, Hamin Mangha and Miaozigou
(source base map: www.tuxingis.com).

research, we introduce the Liaoxi area because it is better known to archaeologists and
the archaeological record at the site shows influence from Liaoxi. The Liaoxi area is
located in the current southeast Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and western
Liaoning Province (Fig. 1). A great amount of data from systematic and intensive
surface survey and well-controlled excavation has accumulated from this area
(Chifeng 2003; Liaoning 2012; Neimenggu 2004; Shelach 2006). A full sequence of
archaeological cultures has been built—Xinglongwa (6000–5000 B.C.E.), Zhaobao-
gou (5000–4500 B.C.E.), Hongshan (4500–3000 B.C.E.), and Xiaoheyan (3500–2500
B.C.E.)—showing the changes in archaeological assemblages from the Neolithic.
Among them, Hongshan Culture shows a high level of social complexity, with
evidence consisting of a splendid jade industry and ceramic funerary vessels, clay
human statues and figurines, and ritualistic sites (Shelach 2006:73). The recently
excavated Hamin Mangha site suggests a dominant influence from the south—that is,
Hongshan Culture—especially with regard to various types of jade artifacts (Ji and
Tang 2018).
Unlike the Liaoxi area, the Ke’erqin region (118–124.3°E, 42.40–45.15°N) where
the Hamin Mangha site is located is associated with lower primary productivity,
unsuitable for agriculture but ideal for a foraging economy (Chen et al. 2016).
Typological research suggests a series of archaeological phases existed in this region
(Table 1). The archaeological record recovered from the Hamin Mangha site is named
Hamin Culture; it dates to approximately the same age as Late Hongshan Culture in
the Liaoxi area (3500–3000 B.C.E.).
Until now, the interaction between environment and socio-political organization in
Ke’erqin has been little known. Very few excavations or other research has been
conducted in the region, making the discussion of the archaeological discovery at the
30 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)
TABLE 1. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE IN THE KE’ERQIN REGION
PHASE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS DATE B.C.E.

1 Xinglongwa cultural remains 6000–5000

2 Zhaobaogou cultural remains 5000–4500
3 Early Hongshan cultural remains 4500–3500
4 Hamin Culture (Late Hongshan Period) 3500–3000
5 Nanbaoligaotu type 2500–2000

Hamin Mangha site difficult because it lacks parallel sites for detailed comparison.
However, the astonishing numbers of skeletons and associated artifacts that have been
unearthed from pithouses at this site provide archaeologists with an impressive starting
point for further research on broader anthropological issues such as craft specialization,
funerary behavior, social organization and identity, and so on.
This article focuses on the most significant discovery at Hamin Mangha, the large
number of individuals found in abandoned pithouses. We aim to suggest explanations
for why this Late Neolithic site was abandoned and evaluate different hypotheses that
might account for the evidence of mass deaths at this site. Until now, the only other site
from prehistoric China showing a similar phenomenon of deposition of human
skeletons in storage pits and living floors is the Miaozigou site in southern central Inner
Mongolia (Fig. 1). Miaozigou (3500–3000 B.C.E.) dates to the same period as Hamin
Mangha. The evidence of mass human death at Miaozigou has been explained as the
consequence of a plague (Wei 1989). This is one of the hypotheses tested for Hamin
Mangha in the current article.

THE HAMIN MANGHA SITE

Hamin Mangha (122.216°E, 43.982°N), a Neolithic site located at Kezuozhongqi in

the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northeastern China, is becoming known
for the recent discovery of several quickly abandoned pithouses filled with a massive
number of human skeletons (Zhou et al. 2012; Zhu et al. 2014; Zhu 2016; Zhu and Ji
2016a). To mitigate site disruption from railway construction, the Inner Mongolia
Institute of Archaeology organized and conducted three seasons of excavation during
the years 2010, 2011, and 2012 in collaboration with Jilin University and the Cultural
Relics Management Division of Kezuozhongqi (Neimenggu 2015; Neimenggu and
Jilin 2012; Neimenggu and Kezuozhongqi 2012).
The extent of Hamin Mangha is defined by surrounding ditches and covers a total
area of 170,000 m2, of which only 5900 m2 (3.5% of the site) have been excavated. The
site was excavated following the superposition principle. The strata of the site can be
divided into three layers. The first layer is loose yellow aeolian sandy soil about
0.5–0.6 m thick. The second 0.15–0.45 m thick layer is the cultural layer; its soil is
gray-black and dense. The third layer has not been completely uncovered out of
concerns for cultural heritage protection. All the deposits were removed to expose the
features and associated artifacts and human skeletons. The excavations at Hamin
Mangha revealed many features of interest, including 54 pithouses, 57 pits, 12 burials
(not within the burned houses, ordinary individual and collective graves), and 2
(possibly parallel) surrounding ditches (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). Following standard Chinese
Fig. 2. Aerial photograph of Hamin Mangha excavation area in 2010 and 2011, showing location of
pithouses (F), burials (M), and pits (H); F32, F37, F40 contain skeletons (Neimenggu and Jilin 2012:
appendix fig. 2-1).
Fig. 3. Aerial photograph of the excavation area in 2012 (black line outlined lower right area) showing
location of pithouses (F), burials (M), and pits (H); F44, F45, F46, F47 contain skeletons (Neimenggu
2015: fig. 3).
 TABLE 2. BASIC INFORMATION ON PIT TOMB BURIALS AT HAMIN MANGHA
NUMBER OF BURIAL POSITION
a b
BURIAL NO. LOCATION SKELETONS SEX, AGE AND NOTES GRAVE GOODS REFERENCE

M1 T022063 1 Unknown Unknown, – Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2010

only skull fragments
M2 T001065 1 Female, 20± Supine, Clam shell on left side of Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2010
knees bent to chest skull
M3c T006066 1 Child Supine, – Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2010
knees bent to chest,
disturbed skeleton
M4 T005059 1 Female, adult Supine, Clam shell on right side of Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2011
knees bent to chest skull
M6 T004060 3 Female, 35± Prostrate, Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2011
knees bent to chest Marly grey-brown
pottery cylinder
Male, 35–40 Supine,
knees bent to chest
Child, 6–7 Lying flexed
M7 T016060 1 Unknown, 40± Supine, Large clam shell on right Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2012
knees bent to chest side of skull
M8 T016059 1 Unknown, unknown Supine, Clam shell inside patella Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2012
knees bent to chest
M9 T017057 1 Male, 25–30 Supine, Large clam shell on Neimenggu & Kezuozhongqi 2012
knees bent to chest, outside of right leg
missing ribs
a
Burials M5, M10, M11, M12 remain unpublished.
b
All burials (except for M3) were found in Layer 2 of the stratigraphy and dated to the Late Hongshan.
c
M3 was located in the living floor of F11 and dated to the Modern period.
34 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

archaeological abbreviations, the pithouses were labeled ‘F’ for fangzi (house), burials
‘M’ for muzang (burial), and other pits ‘H’ for huikeng (pit). Approximately 1850
artifacts consisting of pottery, lithics, bone and antler or shell tools, jade, and so on were
excavated from the site, with some houses containing many jade artifacts (Ji and Tang
2018). Radiocarbon dates have not yet been published (they will appear in the final
excavation report), but the site is estimated to have been occupied 3500–3000 B.C.E.
based on the typologies of the pottery and jade artifacts (Zhu and Ji 2016b).
All 54 pithouses were excavated. They are all features of Layer 2 in terms of
stratigraphy and were all constructed in the same time range as determined by
associated artifacts and stratigraphy (all beneath Layer 2). These semi-subterranean
pithouses are rectangular or square with rounded corners, with a width of about
2.2–5.95 m, a depth of about 2.86–6.3 m, and an area of 20–40 m2. They are nearly
homogenous in terms of the direction of the doorways, with all pointing toward the
southeast. There is almost no distributional overlap between any two pithouses among
those excavated to date, and all of the pithouses are within the inner surrounding ditch,
suggesting contemporaneity of the buildings (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). Some of them present
clear evidence of burning (i.e., F1, F13, F17, F21, F32, F40, F45, F47, F52). One
medium-sized house (F40) was filled with many skeletons (n = 97), suggesting there
may have been a huge prehistoric tragedy at this site. The inter-house areas were also
fully investigated; they contained pits and burials, but no evidence of unburied corpses
having been left out in the open.
Some basic information on the 12 excavated burials is listed in Table 2. The
evidence shows no significant difference between ordinary burials at Hamin Mangha
and other Neolithic sites in the Ke’erqin region. All 12 tombs are vertical pit burials.
The shape of the tombs was square or round and their length or diameter was between
1 and 2 meters. Except for burials M5 and M6, the deceased were all placed on their
sides with knees bent up towards their chests. Few grave goods are associated with these
burials except for some shells. There was no evidence of fire on the human skeletons in
the burials, while many of the pithouses had traces of fire above the skeletons interred
within.

QUICKLY ABANDONED PITHOUSES, WITH AND WITHOUT SKELETONS

Eight pithouses were associated with human skeletons, including F32 (n = 13

skeletons), F37 (n = 22), F40 (n = 97), F44 (n = 14), F45 (n = 1), F46 (n = 22), F47
(n = 10), and F48 (n = 2). Note that the letter ‘n’ here represents the provisional
Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) based on the human bones that could be
observed without removing individuals buried above underlying ones. According to
our recent observation, all 8 pithouses mentioned above show evidence of minimal
post-depositional modification (other houses are under investigation with regard to the
potential taphonomic factors involved in site formation processes). It is noted that all
the pithouses containing human skeletons seem to have been abandoned quickly, with
evidence that they were deliberately set on fire before they were abandoned. We now
describe the depositional conditions of four pithouses, three that contained skeletons
and one that did not.
F32: This pithouse has a doorway at a 130° relationship to north (compass
orientation) and is 6.3 m long, 5.95 m wide, and 40–70 cm deep. It has obvious signs of
severe burning, namely carbonized beams that collapsed during or after the fire.
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 35

Among 13 identified human skeletons, several were located near the doorway. The
right side of pelvis and leg bones of skeleton F32-2 is superimposed by collapsed beams.
Except for a few limb bones, most of the bones of skeletons F32-11 and F32-12 are
under some collapsed beams (Fig. 4, Fig. 5a). Traces of burning have been identified on
some of the bones of skeletons F32-3, F32-4, and F32-10. A large number of ceramic,
lithic, bone or antler tools, as well as jade artifacts, were found on the floor surface.
F40: This house represents the most prominent discovery in all three fieldwork
seasons because so many skeletons (at least 97) were piled up in it (Fig. 5d). This
pithouse has a doorway at 132° and is 4.25 m long, 4.44 m wide, and 35–50 cm deep. A
compact dark layer of sediment existed above the skeletons and the areas without
skeletons, suggesting that a burning event had occurred happened after the bodies were
moved into the house. The density of human skeletons on the living floor increases
near the doorway and some areas inside the north wall have more than three layers of
skeletons. Body positions vary among the observable skeletons: some are supine, others
prone, and others are positioned facing sideways. The directions of the heads relative to

Fig. 4. Four photographs of skeletons under collapsed beams in F32 at Hamin Mangha.
36 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

Fig. 5. Plan views of selected houses at the Hamin Mangha site (oriented northwest to southeast):
(a) F32 (Neimenggu and Jilin 2012: appendix fig. 2-2); (b) F45 (Neimenggu 2015: fig. 6); (c) F52
(Neimenggu 2015: fig. 10); (d) F40 (Neimenggu and Jilin 2012: appendix fig. 3-1).

the bodies also vary. Most individuals’ legs are bent. Separated from the individuals,
sherds kept the original shapes of pots that had broken on the surface of the house floor;
these broken vessels were found in areas where human skeletons are scarce, suggesting
that the corpses might have been moved into the structure while it was still in use as a
residence. The piling of bodies nearest the doorway indicates the termination of use life
of the house (even as a “burial”) and the burning event suggests total abandonment of
this structure.
F45: This house, with only one skeleton, is one of those containing a large number
of pieces of jade (Fig. 5b, Fig. 6). It has a doorway at 121° and is 3.64 m long, 3.94 m
wide, and 40–42 cm deep. Some shells, sherds, and antler tools were found in the
hearth. Seventeen pieces of finely-manufactured complete jade artifacts were
distributed on the living floor, especially in the NW and SW quadrants. Thirteen
ceramic vessels were found on the living floor, including cylinder jars, two-ear vases,
and bowls. Other artifacts include 18 bone and antler tools and 9 lithic tools such as a
grindstone used for food processing and some possible adzes used for woodworking.
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 37

Fig. 6. Schematic illustration of house F45 showing location of associated artifacts: (1–7, 9, 11, 12, 14,
16–18) jade artifacts; (8) knife with stone edge; (10, 13) agate artifacts; (15) jade material; (19, 33, 34, 54)
cylindrical jars; (20, 45, 47, 49) bone tools; (21) stone ring; (22, 24, 25) stone adzes; (23, 37, 38, 44)
bone awls; (26, 27) stone picks (shi si 石耜); (28) bone fishhook; (29) bone spoon; (30, 41) clay pots; (31,
35) stone tools; (32, 36, 55, 57) pottery; (39, 40, 48, 51) bone material; (42, 50) antler tools; (43) jar; (46,
56) bowls; (52) stone mortar (modified from Neimenggu 2015: fig. 5).

The human skeleton was found near the northern wall; most of it had been heavily
burned, leaving only limb bones, the pelvis, and vertebrae (under which was a jade
artifact) in good condition. The collapsed carbonized poles and beams, combined with
the existence of symbolic artifacts and utilitarian pots and tools, represents
unquestionable evidence of sudden abandonment and in situ preservation.
F52: This house exemplifies houses without human skeletons that nevertheless
present evidence of sudden abandonment. The pithouse is 5.5 m long, 5.16 m wide,
and 42–56 cm deep, with 13 poles and 14 beams, mostly carbonized, found under the
sediment that later filled the house (Fig. 5c, Fig. 7). The 63 artifacts found in this house
consist of pots (n = 27), including cylinder jars, dishes, and two-ear vases, and lithics
(n = 28), including adzes for woodworking, digging tools, mortars and pestles for food
processing, and so on. One bone artifact and one shell were left on the living floor.
Most of the artifacts are lineally arranged near the west wall of the house. The
38 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

Fig. 7. Schematic illustration of house F52 showing location of associated artifacts: (1, 11, 12, 16, 29,
30, 36, 52) two-ear vases; (2, 55, 63) stone pestles; (3, 13, 19, 33, 54, 56–60) cylindrical jars; (4, 6–9, 20,
46, 48) stone adzes; (5, 21, 22, 51) bone tools; (10, 25, 27, 32, 28, 37, 40, 43, 45, 47, 49, 50, 53, 62)
stone tools; (14, 15, 23) pottery dishes; (17) bowl; (18, 26) jars; (24, 38, 44) sherds; (31, 41, 42) stone
picks (shi si); (34) bone needles; (35) bone hair clasp; (39) shell; (61) stone mortar (modified from
Neimenggu 2015: fig. 9).

arrangement of durable artifacts ready for daily use and the carbonized wood structure
indicate that the occupants left the house, possibly carrying only the most portable
tools and artifacts (jade?), in a complete abandonment event.

BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA FROM HAMIN MANGHA

Sampling Strategy and Methodology
This part of the article reports on bioarchaeological research conducted to investigate
the causes of the massive deaths at the Hamin Mangha village site. The lead author
(Yawei Zhou), has been in charge of bioarchaeological data collection, identification,
and analysis at Hamin Mangha (Fig. 8). In December 2011, after several houses
associated with human bones (i.e., F32, F37, F40) were excavated, Zhou went to the
site on behalf of the team to conduct bioarchaeological research, especially on the
identification of human bones.1 All the data were collected in situ, since the site had to
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 39

Fig. 8. Collecting bioarchaeological data from pithouse F40 at Hamin Mangha.

be completely protected and the skeletons were not permitted to be removed, so it was
impossible to identify and measure their characteristics in the lab. The researchers tried
their best to outline the skeletons of specific individuals to avoid duplicating data in
counting the individuals within each house, but the MNI is likely to be low in cases
where many skeletons are piled up on top of one another as at house F40. That is, the
actual number of individuals in F40 is likely to be far higher than the MNI of 97 that we
calculated despite these limitations. Age and sex could not be identified for some
individuals in situ because they were either partially covered by other skeletons or the
anatomical parts essential for such identification were not exposed. The demographic
statistics are therefore incomplete.
Several criteria are used to collect data on sex and age, mostly from the anatomical parts
with sensitive indicators. Sex identification is mainly based on characteristics of the pelvis
such as the greater sciatic notch, angle of the pubic symphysis, and the subpubic concavity,
as well as characteristics of the skull such as the nuchal crest, mastoid process, supraorbital
margins, mental eminence, prominence of glabella, and external occipital protuberance
(Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994; White and Folkens 2005). Determining age at death mainly
relies on the characteristics of the auricular articular surface, tooth eruption, degree of
tooth wear, and degree of suture coalescence (Wu et al. 1984). The method we used to
calculate the mortuary age averages was to assign a single age value to each individual,
rather than the age range value.2 Although we were unable to take measurements on many
of the individuals, we are nevertheless confident that we have collected enough data to
identify patterns in age and sex.

Demographic Results
Among the 181 individuals identified so far in the pithouses, 46 (25.4%) had definite
sex indicators, resulting in 19 male and 27 female individuals (with a male to female
ratio of 0.7:1), and 96 (53.0%) had definite mortuary age indicators (Table 3). (The
40 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)
TABLE 3. AGE AND SEX OF INDIVIDUALS RECOVERED FROM PITHOUSES AT HAMIN MANGHA
AGE KNOWN UNKNOWN
STAGE (YEARS) MALE % FEMALE % SEX % SEX % TOTAL %
Infancy 0–2 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Early childhood 3–6 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 12 8.9 12 6.6
Juvenile period 7–14 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 11 8.1 11 6.1
Adolescence 15–23 0 0.0 4 14.8 4 8.7 6 4.4 10 5.5
Early adulthood 24–35 9 47.4 7 25.9 16 34.8 19 14.1 35 19.3
Middle age 36–55 5 26.3 6 22.2 11 23.9 17 12.6 28 15.5
Old age >55 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Known age 14 73.7 17 62.9 31 67.4 65 48.1 96 53.0
Unknown age 5 26.3 10 37.1 15 32.6 70 51.9 85 47.0
Total 19 100 27 100 46 100 135 100 181 100

relatively small proportions of aged and sexed individuals results mainly from the
difficulty of seeing diagnostic elements of any given individual when they are hidden
by skeletons above it.)
Although the present research cannot provide exact and absolute demographic
information on the age and sex profiles of all 181 individuals, some inferences can be
made based on the current data, especially on the issue of cause of death, in part by
taking into consideration their context within some houses.
First, judging from the age indicators on the bones, the average age at death of
individuals within the pithouses at the Hamin Mangha site is 26.8 years old (based on
the 96 individuals for which age data is available within the total sample of 181
individuals). Mortality age spans all age zones from 3 to 55 years. The slight difference
in average age at death for F32 and F46 compared with other houses may be due to the
small sample of individuals with age indicators in these houses (Table 4).
For further analysis, we performed a t-test on two groups of data by sex. We
calculated the median age range of death for each group. (Since there are no sex
indicators for minors, they are not included in the statistical tests.) The t-test on the
small sample seems to support the pattern that there is no significant difference in
mortuary age between males and females (P > 0.05). The small sample supports the
pattern that males and females had a similar age at death distribution.
We also used statistical methods to find out whether there were any differences
between F40 and Fn (all other houses) in terms of age of death.3 We had observed that
the number of skeletons (n = 97) in F40 is much higher than in any of the other houses
and the thickness of their accumulation in F40 is also very high, while other houses do

TABLE 4. AVERAGE AGE AT DEATH OF INDIVIDUALS RECOVERED FROM DIFFERENT HOUSES AT

HAMIN MANGHA
F32 F37 F40 F44 F45 F46 F47 F48 TOTAL

Minimum number of individuals (MNI) 13 22 97 14 1 22 10 2 181

Individuals with definite mortuary age 4 14 56 10 1 6 4 1 96
Average age at death 40.6 24.3 26.2 23.4 n/a 31.6 24.5 n/a 26.8
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 41

Fig. 9. Box plot showing difference in age at death of individuals from house F40 and the other houses
Fn (X represents the median).

not see this phenomenon. F40 skeletons do not appear with burial goods, while most
of the skeletons in the other houses appear to have been wearing jade ornaments. For
these three reasons, the cause of skeletal accumulation in F40 might be different from
that in other houses.
Among the 97 observable individuals in house F40, 21 (21.6%) had definite sex
indicators, with 7 male and 14 female individuals represented (male:female ratio = 1:2).
Based on the observable individuals with definite indicators of age at death, the average
age is 26.1 years old (n = 56), which is close to the average age for those in all excavated
houses. The average age at death for males is 33.3 years old, with a standard deviation of
7.2, and the average age at death for females is 26.7 years old, with a standard deviation
of 6.4. The currently available data suggest that the individuals in house F40 are similar
to those in other houses in terms of average age at death. However, the standard
deviation and box plot suggest that the age of death of the individuals in house F40 is
more concentrated than those in all the other houses together (Fig. 9).

EXPLAINING THE MASS DEATH EVENT AT HAMIN MANGHA

The evidence of massive death and the context of the skeletons in the houses at Hamin
Mangha clearly indicate that these individuals did not die of occasional disease or old
age. The skeletons are concentrated within abandoned rooms, the houses were burned,
the age at death of most of the individuals, both sexes included, centered around stages
of growth or prime middle age. Although there was some minor variation, the
similarity among the quickly abandoned houses suggests that the individuals probably
42 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

co-existed contemporaneously in the same village and so their deaths might be

attributed to the same cause.
Current evidence can be used to reject the possibility that their mass deaths were
caused by fire. During the excavation and bioarchaeological investigation of the house
F40, Zhou Yawei noticed that ash only existed on the top layer of the skeletons, while
there was no trace of burning associated with the underlying ones. Though the
possibility that some individuals, such as those found under collapsed beams, were
killed by the fire or falling of burning beams cannot be totally eliminated, we rule out
burning as the primary cause of most of the deaths observed in the abandoned houses.
After excluding the possibility of burning leading to the deaths, several hypotheses can
be proposed to account for the deaths and evidence of sudden abandonment: (1)
conflict, (2) geological disaster, (3) ritual sacrifice, and (4) plague. Each of these
hypotheses is reviewed below. Though we cannot reach a firm conclusion on the exact
cause of the mass death event and rapid abandonment of the houses, this hypothesis-
testing procedure has been employed to narrow down the possibilities.

Conflict Hypothesis
The current archaeological record, especially the existence of jade artifacts, makes
conflict a reasonable hypothesis to test, especially taking into consideration the
possibility of competition among individuals or groups for scarce resources. More
specifically, there might have been internal conflict among the inhabitants of Hamin
Mangha or an outside group may have entered the village to steal their resources. In
either case, some of the inhabitants might have been killed en masse.
Regardless of whether this was inter- or intra- group conflict, this hypothesis needs
several kinds of essential evidence to support it, including: trauma on the skeletons,
existence of weapons, age at death favoring prime age of males (or a scarcityof males if they
had left the settlement), and so forth (Harrod et al. 2012; Klaus 2012; Murphy et al. 2010;
Willey 1990). No such evidence is recorded at the Hamin Mangha site. One of the
authors (Zhou Yawei) checked the anatomical parts of the skeletons that are easily broken
(certain limb bones and ribs), but there is no trace of trauma or even of healed broken
bones. There are no parry fractures, for example. All the bones were in correct anatomical
positions when they were exposed during the excavation, with no absences or
dislocations in evidence. Moreover, no apparent weapons have been found in the artifact
assemblages. All the artifacts are related to daily life, including utilitarian tools and vessels
or artifacts with symbolic function such as jades. The demography of the individuals in the
pithouses also tends to be normal in terms of male to female ratio4. Combining that ratio
with the age profile (average age of death is about 26.8 years old and 24 percent of them are
identified as individuals younger than 15 years old), we reject the possibility of all the
members of the community participated in short-term social conflict or organized
violence. Finally, the fact that several houses are associated with jade artifacts provides
further evidence for rejecting the conflict hypothesis, since such labor-consuming and
easily portable artifacts were not removed as trophies.

Geological Disaster Hypothesis

Two lines of evidence are essential for attributing the abandonment of sites to
geological disasters, including geological forces and evidence of people’s attempts to
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 43

escape. The most well-known sites that have evidence of abrupt geological disaster are
the cases of Pompeii in southern Italy due to volcanic eruption, and the Late Neolithic
Lajia sites in Qinghai province, Northwest China due to earthquake and flood (Yang et
al. 2003). Both Pompeii and the Lajia sites show clear evidence of the geological
disasters in the sedimentation and in the gestures and positions of the corpses as they
attempted to shield themselves or escape.
According to the results of geological survey, there are no traces of flood or
earthquake having occurred in the area surrounding the Hamin Mangha site and no
geological force appears to have threatened the survival of the prehistoric residents at
this site. The deposition process of the sandy sediment seems to have been slow, so the
abandonment of the settlement and mass deaths there cannot be attributed to a heavy
sandstorm either. The gestures of the individuals represented in the human skeletons
and their positions relative to the carbonized poles and beams both suggest that people
did not try to escape from the burning houses (Fig. 4). (There are too many individuals
in house F40 for them to have been trying to escape from the house.) Since every
evidence of burning is limited to some isolated pithouses, there is also no evidence that
the fire that caused the burning was a natural event. Thus, the geological disaster
hypothesis can be securely rejected.

Ritual Sacrifice Hypothesis

Were the individuals buried in the pithouses (especially the more than 97 persons
whose skeletons overlapped in house F40) killed for some special ritual purpose? The
practice of ritual killing or sacrifice is usually associated with specific sex and age groups
and linked to the specific features of a ritual place. For example, some of the skeletons
identified as young males that are buried under the plaza at Huacas de Moche in South
America may have been captive warriors who were ritually killed (Toyne et al. 2014).
The victims of post-conflict rituals in Iron Age Northern Europe are exclusively or
dominantly young male individuals and they were mostly buried in specific locations
such as the war bogs in Scandinavia (Løvschal and Holst 2018).
In contrast, the individuals buried in the pithouses at Hamin Mangha do not
represent any particular sex or age group nor are they buried in specific places (Table 3).
Rather they seem to be randomly distributed in some houses. This suggests that the
ritual sacrifice hypothesis cannot be supported for Hamin Mangha.

Plague Hypothesis
The plague hypothesis is one of the last logical choices. It is not easy to reject based on
currently available evidence, but will need many more kinds of evidence to be fully
supported. The reasons why this possibility cannot be rejected are as follows.
First, the evidence at house F40, especially the multiple layers of skeletons, suggests
that corpses were intentionally transported to and piled up in the house by other
community members. An 18.9 m2 house being filled with about 100 people cannot be
explained if the individuals were alive and mobile when they were in the house and
there is no evidence of their having been bound. If they were in the house alive, they
should have been trying to escape from the house and heading to the doorway or
another exit such as a smoke hole in the roof if the doorway were blocked. However,
the statistical results suggest that the individual skeletons in this house were randomly
44 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

distributed in all directions (Fig. 10). This further implies that the bodies were carried
into the house by other people. Another piece of evidence comes from the empty zone
in house F40, suggesting that no individual (among the skeletal assemblage) went to
that zone before the house was burned and abandoned.
Second, except in the case of house F40, the bodies of most of the individuals found
in the other houses (Fn) seem to have been intact after their death and then they got
buried in the burned houses. All the other houses (Fn) can be inferred to be the original
scenes of death, with little movement. The possibility that people buried some
deceased individuals before they realized the danger of the plague or that they moved
corpses from some of the houses to F40 (or other unexcavated houses) cannot be
excluded, but the evidence of unelaborate treatment of the bodies obviously suggests
that the living people were forced to leave the dead in the houses and cover them with
burnt, collapsed roofs.
Third, one of the prominent differences between house F40 and Fn (all the other
houses associated with human skeletons) is the presence or absence of artifacts in
association with the skeletons. For example, although the layer below the skeletons in
F40 has not been excavated, it seems likely that no vessels will be found on the living
floor beneath them. It is reasonable to speculate that this part of the house might have
been cleared before the dead individuals were moved in and piled up there. The
presence of jade artifacts in the other houses (Fn) and their near absence from F40 also
suggest that survivors dealing with the dead were making decisions. Houses such as
F32, F37, F45, and F46 are rich in jade artifacts. For example, Zhou Yawei discovered a
pair of jade earrings near an individual’s external auditory canal during the excavation
of house F37. Such jade artifacts were likely used as personal adornments during life,
rather than as funerary objects for the dead (Ji and Tang 2018). Assuming that every
individual at Hamin Mangha owned jade artifacts (though variability in terms of age,

Fig. 10. Photo showing individuals in house F40 facing different directions; white dots represent
individuals positioned face up (supine) or on their sides and black dots represent individuals positioned
face down (prone).
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 45

sex, and social inequality might have existed), the jade artifacts of the individuals in
house F40 might have been taken off before they were transported into this house. The
fact that burnt houses with skeletons such as F32, F45, F47 are associated with various
kinds of mostly intact artifacts (including jade) implies that people had given up the
endeavor of clearing space and removing jade artifacts from those deceased
individuals.5
Fourth, physical isolation is still used today to stop the transmission of pandemic
disease. The mass accumulation of skeletons in house F40 followed by its being burned
might indicate that survivors of a disease were taking measures to prevent other
members of the community from being infected. The absence of human skeletal
remains from the majority of the pithouses also supports the physical isolation
hypothesis. Living people might have deliberately moved the dead to other houses
before burning them in order to prevent cross-transmission, though other explanations
exist.

CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH

As a preliminary analysis of the Hamin Mangha site, this article only focuses on the
possible explanation of the death of a very large number of individuals found in some
quickly abandoned houses. It is noted that the contemporality of the pithouses with a
mass death event is an assumption. Further research including intensive radiocarbon
dating needs to be conducted to determine whether the event(s) happened within a
narrow time range. Nevertheless, the current evidence both the bioarchaeological and
demographic records and the associations among artifacts, features, and skeletons
supports the assumption that the settlement was abandoned as a result of a very short-
term event.
Four hypotheses—conflict, geological disaster, ritual, and plague—were proposed
to explain the mass deaths and abandonment of Hamin Mangha; the fourth hypothesis
is best supported by the current evidence. The plague hypothesis needs more direct
evidence to be fully tested. Unfortunately, finding physical marks of a pathogen on the
bones will be unlikely if death came very swiftly. Further palaeopathological and
palaeogenetic studies would provide more information.
If it becomes possible, further excavation at the Hamin Mangha site would provide a
much bigger sampling size, helping archaeologists more accurately estimate the
demography of the whole site, especially the population loss and age and sex structure.
Further excavation and new discoveries could also help archaeologists propose and
evaluate other hypotheses such as the famine hypothesis. This hypothesis would have to
be tested with data on physiological stress (i.e., nutrient acquisition and diet) leading up
to the actual event. Until then, the plague hypothesis is supported by the current
evidence, both from the perspective of contextual information and the bioarchaeo-
logical record, so cannot be successfully rejected at present.
We now return to the issue of abandonment of the houses. As argued above, all the
burned houses associated with skeletons (F40 and Fn) appear to have been abandoned
during an abrupt event, probably a plague. Taking into consideration that the exact
timing of the deposition of the skeletons would have differed, since the individuals
would not all have died at the same minute, it makes sense that the abandoned houses
and their associations with human skeletons are diverse. This analysis reaches the
preliminary conclusion that the behaviors associated with the abandonment of houses
46 ASIAN PERSPECTIVES • 2022 • 61(1)

Fn and F40 was all part of one event. We favor the possibility that house F40
was filled first (by survivors still dealing with the dead, moving them to a separate
space), then the rest of the Fn houses were abandoned (without special treatment of the
deceased, just a sanitizing fire), and finally, the survivors left the settlement seeking a
new place to inhabit (taking with them only some easily portable tools and jade
artifacts).
Relying on an analysis of lithic assemblages at this site, Shengqian Chen and
colleagues (Chen et al. 2016) provide a culture-ecological model to explain this
prehistoric tragedy. They argue that the people at Hamin Mangha were farming in a
marginal environment that was really only suitable for hunting-gathering within a
limited territory. They propose that, to supplement their diet beyond using limited
cultivated and wild plant resources, the people ate some wild animals and got infected
by a viral plague. Some animal species could have carried the plague and transmitted it
into human groups. Their research supports the plague hypothesis proposed and
preliminarily tested above. Recent studies based on the ancient genetic evidence on the
bacteria Yersinia pestis as the etiological agent of plague suggests that plague infection
was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia and can be traced back to at least
5000 years ago (Rasmussen et al. 2015). The same evidence has been found in Europe
for the same time period (Rascovan et al. 2018). Although Chen and colleagues only
attribute the mass deaths at Hamin Mangha to the possible use of dangerous wild
resources, the timing of mass deaths at Hamin Mangha suggests it could have been
caused by Yersinia pestis.
The building of ditches might suggest that the residents attempted to protect their
territory from some form of threat. More evidence is needed to evaluate the function
of the facilities (and the jade artifacts) in light of other social change occurring in Late
Neolithic northeastern China.
Developing a better organized explanatory framework requires further inter-
disciplinary research. Combining bioarchaeology, palaeoenvironmental reconstruc-
tion, lab studies on various artifacts, research on site formation processes, models of
changing social dynamics, and so forth at the Hamin Mangha site will provide
archaeologists a window into how prehistoric residents made decisions in the face of a
disaster, how they succeeded or failed to adapt to a suddenly changing environment,
and how they bid goodbye to their dead and their past way of life as they (perhaps)
moved forward to a better future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lawrence Straus at the University of New Mexico corrected the draft and provided
several constructive suggestions. The team members of the excavation at the Hamin
Mangha site did a great job recording the matrix, context, and provenience of the
skeletons and artifacts. Many thanks for the help of the Editorial office of Asian
Perspectives and the constructive suggestions of an anonymous reviewer. We would also
like to thank the following organizations for funding our research: National Philosophy
and Social Sciences Foundation (No. 19ZD227), Central Plains Civilization
Exploration Project in Henan Province for sub-project “Physique, DNA and
construction of DNA database of Yangshao Culture human skeletal remains unearthed
in the Zhengzhou area” (No. 24220078), and Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy
and Social Science for the general project (No. 2020BLS002).
 ZHOU ET AL. • HAMIN MANGHA SITE: MASS DEATHS AND ABANDONMENT 47

NOTES

1. Zhou did not participate in the excavations in 2011, but was involved as a field assistant in the
July–August 2012 excavations, including being in charge of excavating house F46.
2. We recognize that relying on mid-points in each age range reduces the reliability of such
interpretations.
3. The symbol Fn represents all other pithouses associated with human skeletons. When comparing to
F40, it would be the sum of the MNIs in F32, F37, F44, F45, F46, F47, and F48.
4. Male to female ratio in the house F40 is 1:2 based on the current available data, but sex of the
individuals who were placed below are unknown, making the ratio in F40 unconvincing.
5. Note that the hypothesis that some skeletons deposited in the collapsed pithouses represent the
residents of those dwellings cannot be effectively supported by the currently released evidence. The
current preliminary archaeological fieldwork reports only provide partial information on the excavated
pithouses. Those houses associated with burnt skeletons (i.e., F37, F44, F46), let alone the ones
without skeletons (i.e., F1, F13, F17, F21, F52, etc.), still lack a lot of information. Association of
archaeological records and human skeletons only suggests possible ways in which the houses were
abandoned. Such fuzziness can only be clarified after the final archaeological report is published in the
following years.

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