Ancient Egyptian Skull Injuries Revive Sacrifice Debate

A new study suggests that court officials and artisans buried near Egypt’s earliest kings may have been killed to accompany their rulers in death. Researchers examined 46 skulls from graves near the royal tombs of King Djer, King Djet, and Queen Merneith at Umm el-Qa’ab, part of the First Dynasty royal cemetery dating back to roughly 3000 BC. Eighteen of the skulls showed potentially fatal injuries, including fractures. The findings revisit a debate that began with archaeologist Flinders Petrie, who excavated the graves in the 1920s. Petrie believed the retainers had been sacrificed, possibly by being buried alive, but found no obvious evidence of trauma. However, researchers now believe some injuries may have occurred around the time of death. Nevertheless, study author Roselyn Campbell cautioned that not all retainers were necessarily sacrificed and that the small sample cannot establish how widespread the practice was. The practice appears to have disappeared early in Egypt’s Second Dynasty.