Skull fractures on 5,000-year-old Egyptian skulls reveal servants were sacrificed to serve pharaohs in the afterlife

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

A new US study has found skull fractures on 46 ancient Egyptian skulls that appear to confirm servants of early pharaohs were killed when their rulers died. Dr Roselyn Campbell of Purdue University re-examined remains from the royal cemetery of Umm el-Qa'ab near Abydos, dating to around 3,000BC. The findings revive a theory first proposed by Egyptologist Flinders Petrie after he excavated the site in the 1920s. Court officials, seal-bearers, inspectors and craftspeople were among those buried in subsidiary graves surrounding the royal tombs.

Petrie believed the burials were human sacrifices but found no trauma evidence, leading rivals to argue the retainers died naturally and were reburied later.

Campbell's re-examination of skulls from graves surrounding the funerary enclosures of three different rulers found fractures consistent with a violent death.

The killings have been described as a visceral display of the ruler's power, with servants reportedly expected to serve their pharaoh in the afterlife.