New genetic evidence suggests that 1,500 years ago, the Silla kingdom in what is now South Korea practiced a brutal form of social stratification where entire lower-class families were sacrificed to honor local royalty. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, reveal a society where kinship and class determined not only one’s life but the manner of their death.
Researchers analyzed the genomic data of 78 skeletons recovered from the Imdang-Joyeong burial complex in Gyeongsan, located in the southeast region of the Korean Peninsula. The site contains tombs constructed between the fourth and sixth centuries, a period corresponding to the Three Kingdoms era (circa 57 B.C. To A.D. 668). By reconstructing the DNA of these individuals, the international team uncovered a dense kinship network and a disturbing pattern of institutionalized violence.
The study confirms the historical practice of sunjang, a ritual in which servants or “retainers” were killed and buried alongside the elite to serve them in the afterlife. While historical texts had long alluded to this practice, the DNA analysis provides the first concrete biological evidence that this sacrifice often extended to entire households, effectively wiping out familial lines to satisfy the requirements of royal burial rites.
The Biology of Sacrifice: Mapping Family Trees
Using genome-wide data, the researchers were able to reconstruct 13 distinct family trees from the Imdang-Joyeong complex. This genetic mapping revealed that the Silla society had a strong preference for burying closely related individuals together. The analysis identified 11 pairs of first-degree relatives—such as parents and children or siblings—and 23 pairs of second-degree relatives, including grandparents and grandchildren.
Still, the burial patterns differed sharply based on social status. While the elite “tomb owners” were interred in their own dedicated burials, the retainers were often grouped together. Most strikingly, the team found three specific cases where parents and their children were sacrificed together in the same grave. This biological evidence validates historical reports that sunjang was not merely the sacrifice of individual servants, but a systemic event that could claim entire families.
The genomic data also suggests a hereditary cycle of servitude. The researchers noted that the genetic relatedness among sacrificial individuals across generations indicates the possible existence of a “sacrificial caste.” In this grim social structure, specific families may have been designated to serve as sacrificial victims for the ruling class for consecutive generations, ensuring a permanent underclass of retainers.
A Matrilineal Focus and Endogamy
Beyond the violence of the burial rites, the study sheds light on the unique social fabric of the Silla kingdom. The reconstructed kinship networks reveal a system focused heavily on maternal lineages, a finding that distinguishes Silla society from the more male-centric kinship systems typically found in other ancient Korean regions or across ancient Europe.
The research also highlighted the prevalence of consanguineous marriage—unions between closely related individuals. The team identified five individuals, spanning both royal and nonroyal classes, whose parents were closely related, including one instance of a first-cousin pairing. This suggests that endogamy was a widespread social practice used to maintain lineage purity or consolidate power and resources across different strata of society.
| Category | Findings | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| First-Degree Relatives | 11 pairs identified | Strong preference for kinship-based burial |
| Second-Degree Relatives | 23 pairs identified | Extensive multi-generational kinship networks |
| Sacrificial Groups | 3 cases of parent-child pairs | Confirmation of household-level sacrifice |
| Marriage Patterns | 5 cases of endogamy | Consanguineous marriage across social classes |
Implications for Ancient Korean Archaeology
The rarity of well-preserved skeletal material from the Three Kingdoms period makes this study a significant milestone for East Asian archaeology. Jack Davey, director of the Early Korean Studies Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, noted that the findings have profound implications for the understanding of Silla society, particularly regarding institutionalized violence, slavery, and the lack of social mobility.
The presence of a sacrificial caste outside the Silla core suggests that the power of local royalty was absolute, allowing for the systematic eradication of lower-class families. This level of social control points to a highly stratified polity where the biological survival of the lower class was entirely dependent on the needs of the elite.
By analyzing genome-wide data for the first time in this period, the study provides a blueprint for future archeogenetic research. The researchers believe that further studies across the Korean peninsula will continue to uncover more about the population dynamics and the evolution of family structures in ancient East Asia.
As researchers continue to analyze skeletal remains from other Three Kingdoms sites, the next phase of work will likely focus on comparing the Imdang-Joyeong data with other regional polities to determine if the “sacrificial caste” was a localized phenomenon or a standardized feature of Silla’s regional administration.
If you found this report on ancient genomics insightful, please share it with your network and leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Related reading
