## New forensic evidence supports Egyptian “retainer sacrifice” Fresh analysis of First Dynasty mass burials finds signs of fatal blunt force trauma on 39 percent of skulls Egyptologists have long debated whether the earliest pharoahs of the First Dynasty were buried with various servants and officials to serve them in the afterlife—a form of human sacrifice. But there is very little archaeological evidence available, given that many of the earliest Egyptian tombs were plundered and/or hastily excavated. A new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology reassesses a…