5,000-Year-Old Massive Grave In China Excavated, Revealing Astonishing Facts

Scientists discovered the remnants of a strangely tall group of people existed roughly 5 millennia ago when they were excavating a late New Stone Age settlement in Jiaojia in Shandong, China. Bearing in mind that ancient humans were much shorter than we are today, those prehistoric colossi were irrefutably heralds from far future.
Archaeologists from Shandong University led the excavation, unearthing a trove of surprising discovery consisting of the remnants of 104 houses, 205 tombs and 20 sacrificial pits in an archaeological expedition in Jiaojia.

Source: Shandong University

Being a graveyard from the late New Stone Age when the Yellow River Valley was resided by the Longshan culture, also known as the “black pottery culture”, the site is where the group of Eneolithic civilizations thrived, from around 3000 to 1900 BC.
One notable thing is that the examination of the remains discovered during the expedition describes that the prehistoric giants were mysteriously tall, many of whom might even surpassed 180 cm in height. Until now, archaeologists have yet to report the final number of the skeletons discovered, alongside with their gender identification.

Source: Shandong University

Yet, the tallest skeleton discovered was said to be roughly 192 cm. The residents of this settlement, when compared with their neighbors, certainly looked like absolute giants. Other researches also depict that the common New Stone Age human were about 167 cm and 155 cm, for males and females, respectively.
The uncommon height was scientifically attributed to genetics and environmental impacts. In reality, the stature remains the defining features of current inhabitants in Shandong. A 2015 analysis revealed that the average height of 18-year-old males in the region is 179 cm, 5 cm higher than the country’s average measures.

Source: Shandong University

Fang Hui, Head of the School of History and Culture at Shandong University, one of the leaders of the archaeological team, indicates that the Neolithic civilization discovered at the end of the era was involved with agriculture, leading to the residents accessible to diversified ranges of healthy and nutritious food.
Among the cereals, corn was the most common, while pigs played a key role in terms of husbandry. Such balanced diet greatly improved prehistoric Chinese’s physical proportions, including height, according to Hui. Fascinatingly, the tallest people of the Longshan culture was discovered at burial sites, claimed by scientists to be from residents with a higher social status. This means that they could even have better diet than others.

Source: Shandong University

Meanwhile, the village’s neighboring residents might have experienced shortage of products and harsh environmental conditions, leading to their imbalanced diet and short stature. In fact, some of the smallest ancient humans were the Mayans in Central America: average males and females are not higher than 158 and 146 cm, respectively.
Nevertheless, it seems possible that altitude as as a beneficial genetic trait had been presented long before the Neolithic era and the Longshan people. Proof for this was indicated by the latest find conducted by Czech experts from Masaryl University. Therefore, they discovered height genes among the Gravettian culture.

Source: Shandong University

Those Late Paleolithic Europeans existed 50,000 to 10,000 years ago, mostly mammoth hunters, which might have affected their stature, while the tallest reached a 182-cm height. The assumptions of Czech researchers largely coincide with the opinion of Chinese archaeologists.
However, it is impossible to say with certainty why some groups of people are short and others are tall. Many factors affect human growth: ecology, heredity, various diseases and so on. Because of so many variables, the issue of growth in science still has many blind spots.