Human Sacrifice in Ancient America

By Alex Graham-Heggie

Human Sacrifice in Ancient America


Ancient American Civilizations live in some infamy for their alleged practices of human sacrifice.
The truth of human sacrifice is inescapable, and continued in the Americas considerably longer than any comparable practice in Europe. However, the American civilizations, such as the Moche, Teotihuacanos, Maya and Aztecs ought not be judged solely on that basis.

The Moche were a pre-Inca civilization from northern Peru in the early Common Era. Their blood cult is one of the most notorious. Little is understood about the Moche civilization. However, their art depicts many instances of brutal punishments.

The human-like high priest entity that features in the many portrayals of elaborate and sadistic sacrificial rituals is known as ‘the Decapitator.’ Bloodletting, beheading, flaying and other forms of torture and execution were all parts of the pageantry.

However, the Moche also dedicated artistic attention to themes of nature, daily life and dress, and even erotica. Little more is known about them at this time, except that their civilization collapsed, possibly due to climate or invasion, around 750 CE.

Further north, at about the same time the Moche were in their ascendancy, the city of Teotihuacan erected a new structure: the Temple of the Feathered Serpents. Believed to be the burial place of a monarch, it represents an unusual moment in Teotihucan, where a definite monarchy seems to have been in place.

Beneath the pyramid, 260 skeletons of are buried. Each of them, in turn, is wearing a necklace of human jawbones.Interestingly, after about one hundred years, the dynasty that erected the temple seems to have been overthrown and the temple itself walled off. This suggests that the regime was deposed by the majority.

Again, limited information is available, but afterwards Teotihuacan reverts to an impersonal form of leadership.
The Maya, further south and east likewise practiced human sacrifice. However, as stated in this author’s article on Maya warfare, it was a relatively rare aspect of their religion, nor necessarily an end in itself.

Indeed, sacrifice was often a way of formalizing one state’s dominance over another, by ritually executing its highest lords; social rank was a deciding factor in who was made captive in Maya warfare, as when the King of Tikal captured and ‘chopped’ the king of Caracol, thus establishing their own rule over it.

Indeed, the greater part of blood sacrifice among the Maya was so-called ‘autosacrifice,’ wherein lords and ladies actually bleed themselves onto paper and burn the paper for offerings and for divination.

A word should be spared for another custom often attached to human sacrifice; the Mesoamerican ball game. Throughout Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean, variations on game were played with a rubber ball, cast between teams.

The Maya city of Copan and the Oaxacan centre of El Tajin both have especially famous ball courts. The founding monarch of Copan, Yax Kuk Mo, has a range of injuries on his skeletons suggestive of taking part in the ball game.

The popular understanding of the ball game frequently says that two teams competed and the losers were sacrificed at the end. In fact the rules of the ball game are not well-known. Nor is it realistic that the game was always played the same way everywhere. The simple fact is its full significance is unknown.

The Aztecs are easily the most infamous American civilization as regards the practice of human sacrifice. Their legends trace the origins of the world to a council of gods at Teotihuacan – long an abandoned ruin by that time – where one of the gods sacrificed himself to create the Sun. Such a great debt needed to be repaid in nothing less than blood. Without that, the crops would not grow, the rain would not fall, and the Sun would not rise.

Also, Aztec codices show them overthrowing cities with temples much like their own, and they took their example of militarism in great part from the Toltecs. In short, their tendency towards sacrifice did not set them apart from their neighbors. They may have been especially good at it, but they did not invent it.

Between lack of information, and common oversimplifications, the stereotype of American civilizations as bloodthirsty has become altogether too commonplace in the 20th Century. No civilization is all one way.

Sources:

Bob Brier, “The Pyramid Builders” Pyramids, Mummies and Tombs, Discovery Civilization, Summer 2007.
“Yax Kuk Mo” Ancient Clues, Discovery Civilization, Summer 2007.
Harrison, Peter D.
1999 Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an AncientMayaCity. Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.
Evans, Susan Toby Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. Thames and Hudson Ltd., 2004.
“The Fifth World of the Aztecs” Spirits of the Jaguar, NOVA, PBS, 1998.
Personal Communications, Prof. S.E. Jackson, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 2007-8.
Irving Rouse. The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus. Yale University Press, 1992.

Bolivia´s offerings to Mother Earth

By James Ingham

BBC News, Bolivia


Although the majority of Bolivia's population is Catholic, many believe not just in a Christian God but one they have worshipped for millennia.

Indigenous and Christian beliefs have fused together here. God is worshipped but, just as important, is Pachamama or Mother Earth.

The Aymara people have lived in the Andes for more than 2,000 years, pre-dating the Incas who ruled over large parts of the west of South America.


Many of their traditional beliefs remained intact during the later Spanish colonisation and they still survive today.
In Bolivia, more than half the population consider themselves indigenous Indians. The Aymara is one of the biggest groups.

Even the president respects their ancient rituals.

In the steep, cobbled, back streets of La Paz, Bolivia's administrative capital, it is easy to see these traditions being practised.

Witches' market

The area is busy. Day-to-day life is a constant bustle, with women selling fruit and vegetables, sitting alongside friends flogging alpaca wool hats to tourists.


Here small shops and wooden stalls are stacked high with potions, charms, and herbs, and not too pleasant looking llama foetuses. More on them later.
Behind each one stands a woman, waiting patiently for her services to be needed.

In one of these stalls I got chatting to Juana and Ivan, a husband and wife team said to have a special gift.

Juana is a practising Yatiri, a spiritual healer.



She learnt the craft from her father who was, in turn, guided by his father.
Her family, she says, has been blessed for generations, but she told me that of five children she is the only one with this power.

"I realised when I was nine that I could heal," she said. "I helped my mother and sisters when they got ill."

When she was 16 she started working on the stall, slowly taking over the business that has been on this spot for half a century.

For 12 years this very calm and gentle woman has been helping people who are sick and trying to bring them good luck.

Pachamama

"We live and eat from the land," Juana said.


"Pachamama is our mother and we have to respect her."

Many people burn offerings, hoping Pachamama will bring them good luck, health, fortune and happiness.

Juana offered to make me an offering too.

She began by spreading a base of herbs on a large sheet of paper. Then she started sifting through a box of small rectangular tablets made from sugar. Each one had a symbol on it - a house, a dollar bill, hearts, a star or a book.

She chose one with the outline of a condor, a giant South American bird. It would, she said, bring me positive energy and peace.

Wrapped in silver leaf

Another, with a picture of a nearby mountain, would bless me on my travels and she added another tablet that she told me would protect my health.

The offering was growing in size.


Next, were walnuts - again for health - sweets shaped like llamas - an animal that is so much a part of life here - more sugar cubes, then llama wool, the clothing of Pachamama.

On top of all this she placed a llama foetus.

If you were to dig up most Bolivian homes, you would find one of these buried beneath the foundations.

They are a gift to Pachamama, a way of apologising for cutting into her. They are an important part of any offering and are said to be very lucky.



Next, she wrapped gold and silver leaf around the foetus, and added some llama meat, and incense, presumably to make the concoction smell nicer as it burnt.


Ivan meanwhile was chopping wood. Most people take their offering home to burn them there, but I did not think my hotel would be happy with that idea and I was sure Ivan could build a better fire.

He sent me off to buy some bottles of beer which we would use for a toast.

So right there on the street, next to the stall, we made the offering.

Lucky

I placed the packet onto the wood and made my request to Pachamama.

With a little fuel, the fire took hold quickly. We toasted Pachamama with the beer, asking other stall holders to join in and wish me well.


I should tell you at this point that I am soon to become a father for the first time and so my wishes from Pachamama naturally concerned the future for my child.

Juana was delighted and seemed genuine when she told me that the offering was being well received.

The smoke swirling in circles was a sure sign of this, apparently, and meant good luck.

The beer, she said, was particularly sweet, again a sign of luck.

She seemed really content when a man - no-one knew who he was - approached the fire seemingly transfixed by the flame.

"This is very lucky," she said. "And it means you'll have a son."

I will wait and see.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 27 October, 2007 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.