Certain families in an early Silla period society in Korea around 1,500 years ago may have served as human sacrifices for the ruling elite across generations, according to a new genetic study published in Science Advances.
Researchers analyzed DNA from 78 individuals buried at the Imdang-Joyeong burial complex in Gyeongsan, southeastern Korea, and reconstructed a detailed kinship network spanning the fourth to sixth centuries CE, roughly three to four human generations.
The study was led by Hyoungmin Moon of Seoul National University. Researchers identified 13 family groups among the buried individuals, detecting 11 first-degree, 23 second-degree, and at least 20 more distant relative pairs across 44 graves.
Three families consisted entirely of sacrificed relatives, including parents buried alongside their children in the same tomb. Moon and colleagues concluded that certain families likely served as sacrificial individuals for the grave-owning class across consecutive generations, suggesting social status was passed down through bloodlines.
How ancient Silla society bred families for ritual sacrifice
The site relates to “Sunjang,” the Silla kingdom’s practice of burying living individuals alongside deceased elites. A royal decree banned it in 502 CE. Each tomb contained a main chamber holding the grave owner and sacrificed individuals, and a subsidiary chamber holding additional sacrificial burials.
Researchers also found evidence of inbreeding across both social classes. Five individuals showed genetic signs of being born to closely related parents. One female grave owner had parents who were first cousins or closer.
Two sacrificed individuals, a father and daughter buried together in a subsidiary chamber, showed signs of consanguineous unions across two successive generations. Researchers said this points to marriage practiced within the community regardless of social rank.
One notable find was a woman buried alongside her fetus, identified as part of a father-daughter pair. Researchers also confirmed that two adjacent graves, long suspected by archaeologists to be a couple’s burial, belonged to a founding husband and wife whose descendants spanned four generations across the site.
Inbreeding detected across both ruling and sacrificed classes
Unlike ancient European societies, where women typically married outside their communities, adult females at Imdang-Joyeong were buried alongside their own relatives. Male and female individuals showed comparable levels of genetic connection within the community, suggesting no strict gender-based pattern of marriage.
Researchers found no meaningful genetic difference between grave owners and the sacrificed, and only one case of close kinship between individuals of different burial statuses.
Genetic profiles across the entire site remained uniform. Researchers also found no patterns of levirate marriage, a practice documented in neighboring Goguryeo and pastoral societies like the Avars.
Moon and colleagues cautioned that the findings may not represent broader Silla practices and called for further DNA studies at nearby burial sites in Gyeongsan and Daegu.
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