2,500-year-old skeletons with legs chopped off may be elites who received 'cruel' punishment in ancient China

Two ancient skeletons, each missing a part of the lower leg, recovered from graves in China were of elite individuals whose legs were amputated as punishment around 2,500 years ago, during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, a new study suggests. 

The discovery provides a rare glimpse into the brutal punishment method, called "yue," from ancient China, the researchers said.

"Such discoveries, along with some previous findings, reflect the cruelty of the penal system in early China," study senior author Qian Wang, a professor of biomedical Sciences at the Texas A&M University School of Dentistry, told Live Science in an email. 

However, not everyone agrees that these men were punished with yue, saying that they could have received amputations for other reasons.

Related: Ancient Chinese burials with swords and chariot cast light on violent 'Warring States' period

The skeletons — along with objects such as copper belt hooks, stone tablets and pottery — were excavated from an ancient graveyard in Henan province. Both skeletons were found inside two-layered coffins in graves with north-south orientation, possibly indicating high social status.

Both individuals were missing the bottom fifth of one of their legs; one skeleton was missing part of the left leg, and the other was missing part of the right. The lower ends of the remaining lower-leg bones (tibia and fibula) showed signs of healing and bore no cut marks. These findings hint at deliberate and skilled slicing and proper wound care, according to the study.