Ancient Egypt: Forensic study suggests human sacrifice in First Dynasty

Forensic analysis of 5,000-year-old remains has provided new evidence that human sacrifice was practiced during Egypt’s First Dynasty. Dr. Roselyn Campbell, an anthropologist at Purdue University, re-examined 46 skulls excavated from the Abydos necropolis, originally discovered by British archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie in the 1920s.

The study, published in ‘Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology’, found that 18 of the 46 skulls (approximately 39 percent) showed signs of perimortem trauma. These injuries included linear fractures, penetrating wounds, and a sharp-force injury near the eye, suggesting the individuals may have been killed by blows to the head.

These individuals were likely retainers—servants, officials, and craftsmen—buried in subsidiary tombs surrounding the royal funerary complex. Researchers suggest these sacrifices were intended to ensure the pharaohs had a retinue to serve them in the afterlife, or served as a display of the ruler’s power. While the findings support long-held suspicions, experts note that ritual killing cannot be definitively proven by skeletal remains alone.