Ritual Violence and Human Sacrifice in the Americas

Ritual violence in Mesoamerica relied on a common base of ancient religious concepts. Practices described for the Aztecs - the sacrifice of children related to rain deities, for example - may have developed even before the Olmec cultural horizon (1200-400 bce ) which is indicated by the excavation of dispersed infant bones and two primary infant burials close to natural springs at the sacred site of Cerro Manati near San Lorenzo in Veracruz, Mexico, dated to 1700-1600 bce.^[765] The rain and water deity Tlaloc or its representation in other Mesoamerican cultures, such as Chaak and Cocijo in the Maya and Zapotec regions, was of crucial importance for the indigenous economy based on rain­fed and irrigation farming.

In addition to its representations in the iconography, the long tradition of auto-sacrifice is proved by the excavation of cutting instruments for blood­letting and perforations made of jade, bone, obsidian, the spiny maguey plant and other materials. Elite tombs indicate that auto-sacrifice was a particular responsibility of priests and rulers. Findings in elaborate tombs from the Late Preclassic (400 bce-100 ce) at the large highland Maya site of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, for example, contained several stingray spines. Much later the depiction of a ball of twisted grass storing spines for bloodletting even became a symbol for the Aztec nobility.

The Aztecs idealised the Teotihuacan (1-650 ce) and Toltec states (900-1200 ce) as particularly civilised, and adopted cultural elements ofboth. They reused relic sculptures and vessels, imitated the architectural style, referred to the same major gods, such as Quetzalcoatl or Tlaloc, and adopted various religious symbols. The expansion of both states was intimately related to militarism, human sacrifice and trophy cult. At Teotihuacan, the remains of about 200 individuals were found at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent (or Temple of Quetzalcoatl) erected between 100 and 250 ce. The predominantly male victims had been placed in groups of four, eight, eighteen and twenty, pointing to a numerical or calendrical symbolism. Seventy-six individuals were clearly identified as soldiers because of the weapons and the rich regalia found in the burials. The arrangement of real and imitated human and canid maxillae as their pectorals or necklaces refers to the custom of collecting human trophies. Depictions of felines, owls and eagles devouring bleeding hearts in Teotihuacan murals confirm the importance of war, blood and sacrifice.⁶

The Toltec state is renowned for a particular type of ritual platform often decorated with stone reliefs or sculptures of human skulls. The Aztecs called it tzompantli and used it as the base for racks to display the heads and skulls of sacrificed individuals. However, one of the earliest deposits of wooden skull rack posts and associated bones and platforms dated around 550 ce was found in the Chalchihuites culture site of Cerro de Huistle at the north-western frontier of Mesoamerica.⁷ Tzompantli platforms appeared later in other parts of the region including Tula, Oaxaca and the northern Maya lowlands (e.g., Chichen Itza and Uxmal).

The arrival of Central Mexicans has been made responsible for the introduc­tion of cannibalism in the North American Southwest and for an increase in ritual violence particularly in the Chaco Canyon of the Anasazi region around 900 ce.⁸ However, local Anasazi elites may have adopted these cultural elements as a

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1987), p.

6 Michael E. Smith, The Aztecs, 2nd edn (Malden: Blackwell, 2003), pp. 31-4; George L. Cowgill, ‘Toward a Political History of Teotihuacan', in A. A. Demarest and G. W. Conrad (eds.), Ideology and Pre-Columbian Civilizations (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 1992), pp. 106-7; Michael W. Spence et al., ‘Victims of the Victims: Human Trophies Worn by Sacrificed Soldiers from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan', Ancient Mesoamerica 15.1 (2004), 1-15.

7 Susan Toby Evans, Ancient Mexico and Central America, 3rd edn (London: Thames & Hudson, 2013), pp. 369-71.

8 Christy G. Turner II and Jaqueline A. Turner, Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1999), pp. 1-9, 459-84. consequence of increasing trade relations. The growing importance of Mesoamerican corn may have induced a need for corresponding new rituals.

Andean societies had a long tradition of ritual violence just as the Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the earliest examples of human sacrifice were found at the Peruvian coast. Child burials had been deposited in architecture at Aspero and La Paloma dating between 5000 and 2800 bce. In the early Cupisnique (coastal Chavin) culture dating to the last two millennia bce trophy heads indicate an early connection between raiding, warfare and ritual violence similar to the examples mentioned from the Nasca, Moche, Tiwanaku and Wari cultures.^[768] The Incas preferred large animals such as llamas for sacrifice for most of their official ceremonies. However, humans, particularly children and adolescents, were killed on special occasions. Ritual death was considered prestigious, offering the opportunity to accompany the gods. For the important state ritual of capa- cocha (or qhapaq hucha, translated as ‘solemn sacrifice' or ‘royal obligation') the most beautiful male and female children from different regions were selected, often sponsored by their parents who were rewarded with prestige and tax reduction. The children were sent to the capital of Cuzco adorned, celebrated, ritually married and sanctified and subsequently distributed to the most important sanctuaries in the empire to be sacrificed. Capacocha rituals took place all over the Inca realm in times of ecological crisis (e.g., droughts, earthquakes, eclipses) and in the context of important political events, such as an emperor's enthronement or death. Child sacrifice also accompanied dedication rituals of sacred sites on mountain peaks, for example. In so-called itu rituals the palpitating hearts of sacrificed llamas or dogs served to augur if a war campaign would be successful or not. However, sometimes children were also sacrificed for this purpose.^[769]