A 700-year-old female skull found in a Chinese cemetery is the world's first archaeological example of punitive nose amputation, according to a new study. The middle-aged woman survived the ruthless punishment, which may have been administered for stealing or for adultery."We believe this woman was a kind of cast-off after death. She was buried face-down, suggesting a discriminatory attitude," study co-author Qian Wang, a biological anthropologist at Texas A&M University, told Live Science in an email. "Her burial, alone, in a place without her family or community, could be a decision of disapproval."The woman's skeleton was discovered among 300 others in 2019 during an excavation of the San...