Шинэ судалгаагаар эртний Египетийн анхны угсааны хаадын булшны дэргэдээс олдсон араг яснууд нь хүний золиослолын ул мөр болохыг тогтоов.
Эртний Египетийн Абидос хотын ойролцоох хаадын булшнаас 5000 орчим жилийн өмнө олдсон 46 гавлын ясыг Пурду их сургуулийн антропологич Розелин Кэмпбелл орчин үеийн шүүх эмнэлгийн аргаар дахин шинжилжээ. Эдгээр ясыг 20-р зууны эхээр археологич Флиндерс Петри малтан илрүүлсэн бөгөөд тухайн үед тэдгээр хүмүүсийг хаанаа дагалдан хорвоог орхисон зарц нар байж болзошгүй хэмээн таамаглаж байв. Гэвч тухайн үед араг яснаас үхэлд хүргэх гэмтэл олдоогүй тул энэ таамаглал удаан хугацаанд маргаантай байсаар ирсэн юм.
Кэмпбеллийн шинэ судалгаагаар 46 гавлын ясны 18-д нь амь насанд хүрэхүйц гэмтлийн ул мөр байгааг илрүүлжээ. Эдгээр гавлын ясан дахь шугаман хагарал нь тухайн хүмүүсийг хатуу зүйлээр цохиж амийг нь хөнөөсөн байх магадлалтайг харуулж байна. Судлаачийн дүгнэснээр, уг золиослолд ашигласан зэвсэг нь чулуу биш, харин мод зэрэг хөнгөн эд зүйл байсан байх талтай аж.
Энэхүү хүний золиослолын зан үйл нь Египетийн анхны угсааны үед л хязгаарлагдмал байдлаар үйлдэгдэж байгаад хоёрдугаар угсааны үед бүрэн зогссон бололтой. Гронинген их сургуулийн египет судлаач Якобус ван Дейк энэхүү судалгааг эртний Египетэд хаадын булшны дэргэд хүн золиослодог байсан гэх таамаглалыг батлах чухал нотолгоо боллоо хэмээн үнэлжээ.
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The ancient Egyptians practiced human sacrifice around 5,000 years ago, a period shortly after the country was first unified, a new study finds.
In the new study, Roselyn Campbell, an anthropology researcher at Purdue University, re-examined 46 skulls from individuals who were buried near royal tombs that belonged to King Djer, King Djet and Meretneith (a woman who likely ruled Egypt at times), and were built near the ancient sacred city of Abydos. All three rulers lived during the first dynasty, a period that started around 5,000 years ago when Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were unified into one kingdom. The sacrificed retainers were buried next to the tomb of the king they had served.
Researchers first excavated the royal burial site in the early 20th century. At the time, the excavator, Flinders Petrie, believed that the hundreds of other burials found near the royal tombs contained nonroyals, such as retainers and other people who served the king. Moreover, it appeared that these nonroyals had been sacrificed after the king they had served died, in the belief that they could serve the king in the afterlife.
However, Petrie was unable to identify evidence of fatal skeletal trauma, and his idea that they were sacrificed has been debated ever since. Petrie reburied most of the human remains, but 46 skulls were retained and preserved in the Duckworth Collections at the University of Cambridge.
In the new study, published Monday (Oct. 5) in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, Campbell re-examined these 46 skulls using modern forensic techniques and information about the marks that different types of trauma leaves on human skeletons. Campbell found that 18 of the skulls have signs of trauma that were likely fatal — indicating that these individuals were likely sacrificed, according to a statement from the journal. Specifically, Campbell found that many of the skulls had linear fractures, which Petrie had mistaken for damage that occurred after burial.
Linear fractures “occur when the cranium strikes or is struck by a relatively large object with low overall force; because of the cranium’s globular shape, the impact of the blow disperses across the cranial vault,” Campbell wrote in the study. “While linear fractures are not always immediately lethal, they often cause intracranial lesions and/or hemorrhage, which can quickly cause loss of consciousness and death if surgery [to relieve pressure] is not performed.”
Campbell told Live Science in an email that it’s difficult to identify the weapon or object that was used. “Based on comparative forensic and archaeological studies, the most likely implement would have been flat and relatively light, probably made out of something like wood rather than stone,” she said.
The practice of human sacrifice seems to have ended in the second dynasty of Egypt. Evidence for human sacrifice is limited and seems to be confined mainly to the first dynasty. Petrie theorized that they were retainers to the king based on the fact that some were buried with gravestones that had titles such as seal-bearer which suggested that they served the king.
“As far as we can tell, this particular type of retainer sacrifice seems to have ended with the close of the First Dynasty, which means it [lasted] around two centuries or possibly less,” Campbell said.
Jacobus van Dijk, an Egyptologist at Groningen University in the Netherlands who was not involved with the study, welcomed the new research. The “existence of retainer sacrifice in early Egypt has always been controversial and Dr Campbell’s research adds an important argument in support of scholars who, like myself, believe this custom was practised in Egypt in the early dynastic period,” he told Live Science in an email.
He noted he was surprised at the method used for human sacrifice, because depictions of ritual killing on wooden labels “seems to indicate that the victim was kneeling with his hands tied behind his back being stabbed in the chest with a knife.”
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