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LiveScience
LiveScience
Soumya Sagar

2,500-year-old skeletons with legs chopped off may be elites who received 'cruel' punishment in ancient China

A hypothetical recreation of yue, with a doctor waiting nearby.

Two ancient skeletons, each missing a part of the lower leg, recovered from graves in China were of elite individuals whose legs were amputated as punishment around 2,500 years ago, during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, a new study suggests. 

The discovery provides a rare glimpse into the brutal punishment method, called "yue," from ancient China, the researchers said.

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