Hiding a leaf in the forest: uncovering a 1300-year-old homicide case in a 2000-year-old cemetery

Disposal of victims’ bodies in existing tombs or graveyards is a strategy not uncommon in modern homicide cases. In this study, we report a young male homicide victim dated 1300 years ago (during the Tang Dynasty) found in a shaft made by the robbers of a 2000-year-old tomb (East Han Dynasty), located in the Shiyanzi cemetery of Ningxia, China. The skeleton of the victim was nearly complete, found in a slumped posture inside the half-filled shaft from the grave robbers. There were multiple sharp-force marks on his skeleton, including more severe traumata to the facial skeleton and the thoracic elements. Through a reconstruction of the tomb and its relationship with the individual, it was believed that this individual was a victim of an assault. After the assault, the victim was dumped in this shaft to purposely kept from sight. The case indicates that the strategy of hiding victims’ bodies in existing tombs or graveyards as a means of disposal, akin to “hiding a leaf in the forest,” has been practiced since antiquity. This millennium-old case enriches the long history of homicide behaviors, such as the returning of senses to the perpetrator/s after violent actions to hide evidence and avoid punishment.