How macabre practice of human sacrifice came to an end

By the Editorial Team · Saturday, October 17, 2026

Archaeological findings reveal that human sacrifice in royal burials, once widespread in ancient Egypt, China, and other cultures, involved killing attendants to accompany rulers into the afterlife. Over centuries, moral shifts led to the decline of this practice, culminating in symbolic substitutes like clay figurines and eventual formal abolitions by rulers such as the Qin and Ming emperors.

Archaeological research has shed new light on the ancient practice of human sacrifice associated with royal burials, revealing how this macabre ritual gradually came to an end across different cultures.

A recent study at the royal cemetery of Abydos in Egypt re-examined skull remains of individuals buried near early rulers and found evidence of severe injuries consistent with violent blows inflicted around the time of death. These findings suggest that many of these individuals were deliberately killed to accompany their masters into the afterlife, rather than having died natural deaths. This phenomenon of human sacrifice during funerary rites was widespread among elite societies in various ancient civilizations, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Americas, and China.

In ancient China, human sacrifice was tied to the belief that the dead continued existence in another realm and required servants, attendants, and companions. Archaeological evidence indicates the practice emerged as early as the Neolithic Liangzhu culture (3300–2300 BCE) in the Yangtze River Delta but reached its peak during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE). Excavations at the royal cemetery of Yin, the last Shang capital, uncovered tombs containing the remains of numerous people apparently killed to accompany the deceased ruler. Victims included prisoners of war, servants, and members of the royal household. Some tombs exhibited staggering numbers of human victims; for example, the tomb of King Wu Ding, who died in 1192 BCE, contained the remains of 164 people.

The practice continued under the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) but on a reduced scale. During the subsequent Spring and Autumn (770–476 BCE) and Warring States (475–221 BCE) periods, changing moral and intellectual attitudes led to growing criticism of human sacrifice. Symbolic substitutes made from clay and wood began to replace live attendants. This shift culminated in 384 BCE when the state of Qin formally abolished the ritual. The mausoleum of the first Qin emperor, Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE), famously featured a vast Terracotta Army, clay soldiers intended to stand in for real troops in the afterlife.

Later dynasties rarely practiced human sacrifice, though isolated instances persisted, primarily within royal and aristocratic circles. Some individuals were known to have taken their own lives or were killed in order to accompany rulers or spouses to the grave. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), palace women could still be compelled to follow emperors in death. Emperors Yingzong of Ming officially banned the sacrifice of palace women in 1464. Nevertheless, sporadic occurrences extended into the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911), until the Kangxi Emperor prohibited servants from dying with their masters in 1673.

Over time, the scale of human sacrifice dramatically declined, transitioning from a practice that could claim hundreds of lives in a single burial to symbolic representations such as wooden and clay figures. These eventually gave way to paper effigies burned in modern funerary customs. The archaeological and literary records collectively illustrate the gradual suppression and eventual disappearance of ritual human sacrifice in ancient societies.

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