Religion has long been a particularly useful tool for social control, with the "fear of god" used in service of every despicable practice from slavery to war. A new study now reveals that religious rites – particularly, ritual sacrifice – helped create and maintain class stratification in ancient societies. According to researchers from the University of Auckland, Victoria University and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, the findings reveal a "darker link between religion and the evolution of modern hierarchical societies" than once thought. The analysis focused on 93 Austronesian cultures, meaning peoples who originated in Taiwan, later settling in Madagascar, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. Researchers found that the more class stratification that existed in a society – elites on top, with the rest of the populace on the bottom – the more likely it was to engage in ritualistic killing. By employing "god-sanctioned"