Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica - Recent Findings and New Perspectives

This edited volume addresses the environmental and cultural underpinnings of the kind of social conflict that spawned the origins and elaboration of ritualized human and animal sacrifice in Mesoamerica. The chapters variously document the place of cultural evolution and social complexity in the origins and elaboration of ritual human sacrifice, cannibalism, and trophy-taking across a broad spectrum of Mesoamerican cultural and social contexts that first saw the light of day before 2600 BCE, and rapidly developed and proliferated across the Mesoamerican world in the centuries to follow. They study the developments in sacrifice rituals through the centuries into the first millennium CE, when the Mexica Aztec and their allies had elevated ritual human sacrifice such that they produced a plethora of sacrificial acts, modes and manners of death, and associated deities to articulate the necro-cultures and blood-tribute of the times. The chapters further study present-day rites of Amerindian communities from throughout Mesoamerica that include paying homage to the deities of earth and sky through sacrifice and consumption of animal surrogates. The interdisciplinary effort undertaken by this international cadre of scientists, including anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, art historians, ethnohistorians, iconographers, and religious studies experts provides a particularly rich forum for launching an interrogation into the role of conflict, environment, and social complexity in the emergence and persistence of ritual violence and human sacrifice in the Mesoamerican world.

Rubén G. Mendoza, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, Founding/Planning Faculty, and former Chair of the Division of Social, Behavioral, and Global Studies at the California State University, Monterey Bay. He has conducted archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations in California, Colorado, the US Southwest, and Mesoamerica. His research interests include Mesoamerican and South American civilizations and social complexity, long-distance trade and exchange, Amerindian warfare, conflict interaction, social violence, bioarchaeology, terror management, architectures of aggression, and Hispanicized Indian and Amerindian traditional technologies and material cultures. He is an active field archaeologist, and the Principal of Archives & Archaeology, a cultural resources management firm based in Salinas, California. 

Linda P. Hansen, Ph.D., is a Mesoamerican scholar specializing in religious studies and comparative approaches to ancient and modern cultures. Her scholarly investigations include comparative research of Tree of Life cosmology and iconography in Mesoamerica. This diachronic investigation spans multiple eras and cultures, including Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Mixtec, and Mexica. Hansen has taught courses at various universities and is now conducting research as an independent scholar. She is presently CEO and Cofounder of Fund Duel Inc.  and Paradisium, the metaverse for good. These companies are disruptive models that are transforming and democratizing the virtual giving space through global charity concerts, sporting events, and corporate conferences.