Joe Rogan Experience #2563 - Dan Richards · Aired Oct 8, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
The oldest known artificially elongated skulls are from around 10,000 BC, in China.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Head shaping is very old, but China does not hold the oldest known case. A 2025 study says the oldest example in Australia is about 13,500 years old, and an Italian skull is about 12,500 years old. The oldest Asian example is about 11,200 years ago, which is the Chinese find, and it is in the same range as the speaker's date. Some researchers also debate even older cases, such as Neanderthal skulls from Iraq. A check that would flip this: a confirmed, deliberately reshaped skull from China dated older than the Australian and Italian ones.
Read the supporting source · www.livescience.com ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that the oldest known artificially elongated skulls are from around 10,000 BC, in China?
Partly. The claim stretches what the evidence shows. Head shaping is very old, but China does not hold the oldest known case. A 2025 study says the oldest example in Australia is about 13,500 years old, and an Italian skull is about 12,500 years old. Dan Richards said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2563 - Dan Richards, aired Oct 8, 2026, at 1:54:37. The supporting source is livescience.com, linked below.
The context belongs here.
No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
- Attribution
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- Editorial context review
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- Coverage
- One selected claim from the episode
Revisions to this check
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