Human sacrifices played an important role in the development of civilization: according to New Zealand scientists, it was they who created the class structure of society. With the help of ritual murders, the powerful terrorized their subjects and strengthened their rule. Such conclusions were reached by the authors of the article in the journal Nature.
Anthropologists decided to test the hypothesis about the function of sacrifices "cementing" society on statistically significant material. They collected data on 93 traditional Austronesian cultures. They are characterized by ritual killings: in commemoration of socially significant events, leaders or priests kill disenfranchised victims - slaves or prisoners. Scientists have determined in which Austronesian societies from Madagascar to Easter Island sacrifices were practiced, and what was the level of social organization (egalitarian or hierarchical).
Then anthropologists built a tree of the linguistic evolution of the Austronesians - as an objective chronological indicator. Although people were sacrificed in many cultures, such rituals were practiced on a regular basis in previously highly stratified societies (two-thirds of them). Only a quarter of egalitarian societies were sacrificed. Moreover, brutal ritual killings chronologically precede the emergence of a complex social structure (with inherited power and status) - that is, human sacrifice has contributed to social evolution.
However, not all scientists agreed with the findings of the New Zealand anthropologists. For example, Joseph Henrich of Harvard notes that it is wrong to believe that the development of culture and society went along with the evolution of languages. The researchers did not take into account that certain practices can be passed from one culture to another (for example, during trade contacts or conquest). At the same time, most scientists welcome the active use of statistical methods and models in the study of the laws of society development.