A gruesome sight has met archeologists engaged in excavations in central China - an altar devoted to human sacrifice, complete with the remains of an unfortunate victim, state media reported Wednesday.
The discovery of the 7,000-year-old cult site, near Hongjiang city in Hunan province, may make it necessary to rewrite history, as it is the earliest human sacrificial site ever found in China, Xinhua news agency said.
The fact that the sacrificial venue contained the skeleton of a human left no doubt in the archeologists' minds what its original use had been, according to the agency.
Nearby was a separate sacrificial site for animals, with skeletons and bones of pigs, cattle, deer and tortoises, Xinhua said.
Human sacrifice was central to early Chinese religion, as kings and emperors would regularly be buried along with their servants and concubines, who were sometimes killed first.