Recent excavations at Başur Höyük, a Bronze Age settlement dating to around 3300 BCE, uncovered royal burial tombs that contained burial items and evidence of human sacrifice.
Researchers reported that skeletal remains indicated that most of the individuals sacrificed were teenage girls, echoing findings from Arslantepe, where many victims ranged in age from 12 to 16 years. One burial at that site contained two 12-year-old children alongside eight individuals who died in violent circumstances, and further analysis revealed that most remains belonged to females who had not reached adulthood.
"We are faced with a group of teenagers who were gathered, either forcibly or voluntarily, to perform extreme rituals," said one of the researchers. His work at Çatalhöyük, which dated between 3100 and 2800 BCE on the Upper Tigris River, underscored a connection between these rituals and youth.
The study further revealed that DNA analysis of nine individuals did not indicate any clear biological kinship. This finding suggested that the grouping of the victims was not based on familial ties but formed part of a deliberate ritual assignment. Wingro proposed that the tombs reflected social rituals related to age and community roles, possibly representing a group in which teenagers were sacrificed while others survived to adulthood.
Some scholars speculated that events at Çatalhöyük resembled an ancient version of The Hunger Games, where only the strongest secured a chance for survival and reproduction. Scientists later analyzed stable isotopes to determine the geographical origins of the victims, aiming to shed light on the nature of these rituals.
Additional details from Başur Höyük added to the account. The tombs contained dozens of metal items, including gold and silver jewelry alongside bronze daggers and spearheads, which indicated that even peripheral communities had access to luxury goods and technology. The victims were placed in a room adjacent to the main burial chamber, suggesting a hierarchical arrangement in the funerary complex. In the early phases of the cemetery, researchers observed a mix of males and females, with a possible predominance of females, which aligned with the evidence of sacrificial offerings among teenage girls.
"The new picture is decidedly more complex and suggests that a linear trajectory from small-scale egalitarian to large-scale stratified societies may simply not exist there," said the study authors, according to Popular Science.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.