I’ve been following this for a day or two in the Chinese press. There are a lot of basic forensic questions unanswered, so far. Like…how old are these skulls? Have they been stashed for years — or centuries?
THE Ministry of Public Security has dispatched three officers to look into the case of the 121 suspicious skulls, Beijing News reported. They arrived noon yesterday in Gansu’s Tanshanling Town, where the skulls were discovered, together with about 20 police officers from the town.
A herdsman found the 121 skulls in a forest in Tanshanling Town of the Tibet Autonomous County in Tianzhu last Monday. The forest is on the border between Gansu and Qinghai. The skulls were first thought to be monkeys. In some instances, monkey fur and hair was found with the skulls.
The skulls discovered had been lobotomized. The tops of the skulls had clearly visible, clean-cut edges which implied they had been sawn off. Authorities note there was no obvious medical expertise.
Life science professor Liu Naifa from Lanzhou University in Gansu first identified them as human on Friday…”I’m confident of my experience and expertise in zoology. I didn’t measure the skull sizes to judge if they are humans or monkeys because there was no need,” Liu said. “As simple as it could be, one of the skulls that the police sent me wore false teeth. Is it possible for a monkey to wear false teeth?”
If you know your gastronomic history, you’ll remember there was a recipe popular among wealthy Chinese centuries ago that required “live monkey’s brain”. Who knows?
Updated 5:28 AM, 6 April. So far, forensic investigation notes [1] no signs of cause of death, [2] the skulls had been removed after death, [3] no medical expertise evident in the way the skulls were sawed open.
Updated 3:45 AM, 13 April. Some farmers in Qinghai Province unearthed the graves to get the human skulls to sell them to a Gansu buyer surnamed Liang, police said. Liang then sawed off the top of the skulls and sold the tops to a Gansu person surnamed Liu, the police said. Liu bought the tops for artworks which are sold for profit.
Apparently, the dude makes soup bowls with “special powers”. Eeuuuh!
My question is where the hell all their teeth went?
The Skull and Bones Society at Yale University swear an oath to secrecy.
This is the secret:
The skulls discovered had been lobotomized.
Interesting to read that sawing-off the top of the skulls with no obvious medical expertise is considered a “labotomy”… 🙂
“you’ll remember there was a recipe popular among wealthy Chinese centuries ago that required “live monkey’s brain”. ”
No wonder where I’ve been going wrong, I used frozen monkey brains!
Human brain, the other white meat.
Yes mike, certainly not lobotomy. That cut I believe is called a calvarium incision, that takes off the top off the skull. In an autopsy it’s done above the brow, after the skin has been incised and retracted from the back of the head to the front. Most modern autopsies will notch the bone for the embalmers so the skull top will not slip later. This is done with a powered vibrating striker saw, these look more like an old cross saw was used.
Eating monkey brains……isn’t that how they think HIV/AIDS got started in Africa?
Head Meat – It’s what to eat…