[PapaBear3625]

The recovery of about 2,000 burials attested to the practice of human sacrifice on a large scale. At or even before the demise of a king or queen, members of the court — handmaidens, warriors and others — were put to death. Their bodies were usually arranged neatly, the women in elaborate headdress, the warriors with weapons at their side.

The practice does provide the members of the court with a big incentive to do everything they can to ensure that the king stays healthy. This may have contributed to the system's beginning.

[Pharmboy]

VERY interesting point...makes sense.

[colorado tanker]

big incentive to do everything they can to ensure that the king stays healthy

And a big incentive to get the heck outta Ur if the King looks peaked.

[marsh2]

Also can get rid of divided loyalties and entrenched bureaucratic power - paving the way for a new ruler and his personal patronage system.

[gleeaikin]

Wasn’t this around the period of the monumental Chinese burial of the 2,000 clay soldiers? I read that these were probably a symbolic replacement for actual human sacrifices at a not too distant earlier period.