The royal Mesopotamian cemetery in eastern Turkey, about 4,800 years ago, appears to complicate existing theories about how some Bronze Age societies have shifted from egalitarianism to more stringent class structures. More analysis is needed, but the meaning may provide a more nuanced understanding of how social inequality was codified within the earliest known civilizations. Regardless of the ultimate explanation, a survey published on March 17th shows that new discoveries are clearly visible. Cambridge Journal of Archaeology: Human sacrifice was part of it.
Recent discoveries took place in Başur Höyük, a Bronze Age settlement dating back to around 3300 BC and located in the SIIRT province of present-day turkey. Başurhöyük contains some of the earliest known royal burial tombs in the region. However, the discoveries make little sense given the experts’ understanding of early Mesopotamia. It all comes down to location. Başurhöyük was not a major cultural centre. It was located in the vicinity of the Bronze Age Society.
Nevertheless, the tomb was filled with dozens of metal items and weapons, including gold and silver gems, bronze daggers and spearheads. These suggest that privileged kings and warrior aristocracy have access to both local resources and technology that are not traditionally associated with luxury. However, it is the biological sites in a palace complex called Arslantepe that provide the most harsh and violent evidence to support a historical reassessment.
Arslantepe is located in the Martia plains of Türkiye, far from the lowlands of Mesopotamia. In addition to these gorgeous items, the grave burial facility also contains evidence of human sacrifice. More specifically, many of the victims appear to be adolescent girls aged 12-16 years old, wearing clothes made from foreign materials. They are also placed in adjacent rooms of the body, showing some hierarchical arrangement. While it may be fascinating that modern minds bounce back to certain conclusions, the author warned that there is still much unknown about these Bronze Age cultures.
“Based on this, it is fascinating to begin speculating about the existence of male warrior cults and initiation groups at the dawn of the Bronze Age,” the team wrote in their research. “However, it is important to note that gender determination indicates a lack of women in the early stages of male and female mixtures, and possibly Bassul Hajk’s cemetery.” The author also added that he has previously found a “no clear correlation” between the biological sex and positioning of victims.
One potentially many alternative ideas to consider about Başurhöyük explains more in detail the possible role of victims of sacrifice in society. In this theory, charismatic kings and dynasties lineages began not with cults of male warriors, but with ritual associations of young people among otherwise loosely ranked social classes. In any case, the authors emphasized that it is important to resist enforcing existing social models to archaeological discoveries such as Bassul Hajk.
“The new picture is clearly more complicated, suggesting that a linear trajectory from “small egalitarianism” to “large-scale stratification” societies may simply not exist there,” they wrote. “Instead, the most radical and persistent forms of inequality, including the charismatic form of kingship, first emerged on a small scale and later came to occupy the civic territory.”
