{"id":93648,"date":"2026-10-17T09:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T01:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=93648"},"modified":"2026-10-17T09:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T01:02:02","slug":"reflections-how-chinas-macabre-practice-of-human-sacrifice-in-burials-came-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=93648","title":{"rendered":"Reflections | How China\u2019s macabre practice of human sacrifice in burials came to an end"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/10\/15\/7b17c94c-d020-4330-a213-ef2f4d7841ce_5258019d.jpg?itok=uK_pUWDa&amp;v=1792049138\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Archaeologists have long found a disturbing pattern in the graves of ancient rulers: the dead were sometimes accompanied by other dead. Around royal tombs, the remains of people \u2013 who appear to have been killed specifically to follow their masters into the afterlife \u2013 lie alongside precious objects and weapons.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A new study from Egypt has brought this practice back into the news. At the ancient royal cemetery of Abydos, archaeologists re-examined the skulls of people buried around the tombs of early rulers. They found signs of serious injuries on many of the skulls, including fractures consistent with powerful blows inflicted around the time of death.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The pattern suggests that at least some of these people did not simply die naturally and happen to be buried near their rulers. They may have been deliberately killed to accompany them into the next world.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Human sacrifice was part of funerary rites of the powerful across the ancient world, from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Europe and the Americas. The practice was also a feature of elite society in ancient China, where it rested on the belief that the dead continued to exist in another world and would need servants, attendants and companions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3370687\/how-chinas-macabre-practice-human-sacrifice-burials-came-end?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archaeologists have long found a disturbing pattern in the graves of ancient rulers: the dead were sometimes accompanied by other dead. Around royal tombs, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[31821,6292,2618,7118,3727,5433,26992],"class_list":["post-93648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-burials","tag-chinas","tag-human","tag-macabre","tag-practice","tag-reflections","tag-sacrifice","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}