Abstract: New excavations at the Taosi site, Shanxi Province, have recovered many human remains from tombs and ash pits dated to the middle??later phases of the Taosi culture. Osteological examination determined sex identification, age-at-death estimation and population affinity assessment of the skeletal remains. The principal analysis of metrical cranial data showed that the human remains of the middle-later phases were distinct from those of the early phase of Taoshi culture, which was excavated in 1970s and 80s and reported in 1989 the different origins of these two groups of people. Ancient DNA analysis was also conducted and the results failed to demonstrate that there were significant genetic differences between the remains from the tomb and from the ash pits.

Key words: Human bones; Taosi culture; Tomes; Ash pits; Shanxi