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Could these be the faces of the murdered wife and son of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang?

Facial reconstruction technology helps bring back to life two possible victims of a notorious royal massacre whose dismembered remains were found at the site of the terracotta warriors

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Facial reconstruction of a man who could be Qin Shi Huang's son and a woman who may have been a wife or concubine. Credit: Northwest University
Stephen Chenin Beijing

Chinese researchers have reconstructed the faces of a young man and woman who could be one of the many sons and consorts of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China – and who may also have been victims of one of the most notorious and gruesome purges in Chinese history.

The dismembered body of the young woman, who was about 20 years old, was found in a group of around 100 tombs in the emperor’s mausoleum in Xian – home to the famed terracotta army.

All the bodies in the tomb are young females and the archaeologists believe these women could be the emperor’s consorts and their servants, judging from the class of the graves and burial items found there.

Some of the bodies had been dismembered and placed outside passageways leading to the burial chambers that were thought to have contained their mistresses’ bodies.

It is thought that the women may have been killed as part of a human sacrifice following the emperor’s death and the evidence suggests the executioners made no concession to age or rank.

Researchers have reconstructed the face of one of the high-status women in the tombs – possibly a wife or concubine of the emperor.

According to a facial reconstruction photo provided to the South China Morning Post, she had a pair of rounded, large eyes and long, defined nose.

The reconstruction of the woman’s face suggests she may have had non-Han ethnic origins – a suggestion that is likely to prompt an intense academic debate. Photo: Northwest University
The reconstruction of the woman’s face suggests she may have had non-Han ethnic origins – a suggestion that is likely to prompt an intense academic debate. Photo: Northwest University
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