[Research Press Release] Genetics: New clues about a prehistoric city in China (Nature)
27 November 2025
The origins, social structure, and cultural practices of the people of Shimao, a 4,000-year-old walled city in northern China, are revealed in Nature this week. The analysis of ancient DNA from people that inhabited Shimao indicates that the populations had genetic ties to settlements to the south of the city. Moreover, there is evidence that there may have been male mass burials linked to human sacrifice practices.
Shimao city in the Shaanxi province of northwestern China is a Neolithic fortified settlement dating to around 2300–1800 BCE, older than the Great Wall, and is one of the largest prehistoric sites found in China. The stone-walled site is around 4 km2 in size and is divided into different sections, with evidence of social organization and human sacrifice. The city and surrounding sites may have had an important role in establishing the model of large settlements at the very beginning of Chinese civilization. Genetic studies may help to answer questions about how ancestry and kinship shaped the hierarchy of this class-based society.
Qiaomei Fu and colleagues sequenced the ancient genomes of 169 individuals, dated to between 4,800 and 3,600 years ago, from Shimao city, its satellites, and the surrounding earlier sites. They compare this genomic data with previously published ancient DNA data from other populations from China and find that the Shimao people mostly derived from a population that inhabited the local area about 1,000 years earlier. The authors find that the Shimao populations are culturally and genetically linked to the Yangshao population from the Loess Plateau surrounded by the Yellow River, pointing to the possible origins of the Shimao people.
The individuals sampled in this study came from tombs that included up to four generations of Shimao people, mainly through the male line, illuminating family ties among the tomb owners. The findings indicate a patrilineal social structure, in which social status was inherited through the male line. Evidence of human sacrifice has previously been reported for Shimao city, with over 80 human skulls found buried under its East Gate. Prior research had suggested that sacrificed individuals were predominantly female, but Fu and colleagues found that 9 out of 10 of the individuals buried under the East Gate were male. However, distinct patterns of sex-specific sacrificial practices were found at multiple Shimao sites. The elite cemeteries, such as Huangchengtai and Hanjiagedan, showed evidence of predominantly female sacrifice, unlike at the East Gate.
Together, these findings provide new details about the kinship, social structure, and cultural practices of an ancient population.
- Article
- Open access
- Published: 26 November 2025
Chen, Z., Gardner, J.D., Sun, Z. et al. Ancient DNA from Shimao city records kinship practices in Neolithic China. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09799-x
News & Views: Ancient DNA offers clues about mysterious prehistoric settlement in China
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03593-5
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