Pre-Columbian Maya (pre-1502) ritual practices encompassed a range of violent acts generally glossed by the catch-all term ‘sacrifice', including bloodletting and other forms of self-inflicted injury,

staged combat, animal sacrifice, child sacrifice, and the torture and execution of captives. These practices are evident in ancient imagery and text, in artefacts, and by trau­matic injury observable in human remains from archaeological sites.

This chapter will all too briefly highlight examples of these data, drawing espe­cially from the author's own (bio)archaeological field and laboratory research, and will discuss the religious philosophy behind these practices. Central to the Pre-Columbian Maya worldview was an understanding of personal burden and obligation to one's fellow humans as well as to the ancestors, gods and other spirit beings. Humans were forever indebted for the gifts of creation and to the great works of those who came before them. Repayment was required in flesh and blood, either one's own or that of a suitable substitute.

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