Dhaka, Oct. 6 -- A new analysis of 5,000-year-old human skulls has found evidence that Egypt's earliest pharaohs sacrificed people from their royal households and buried them to serve in the afterlife.

The study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology re-examined remains excavated about a century ago from royal tombs at Umm el-Qa'ab in Abydos, The Independent reports.

Researchers examined 46 preserved skulls belonging to members of royal households, including lower-ranking officials, artisans, guards and domestic workers.

They had been buried in long rows of simple brick-lined graves surrounding major royal monuments.

The analysis found severe, fatal head injuries on 18 skulls, with evidence suggesting the blows were deliv...