Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
This second part of the session, “Misinformation and Misrepresentation,” continues to examine how European-derived analytical concepts that have gained academic legitimacy and given rise to particular methods of understanding have fostered misleading claims, ideas, images, and narratives about ancient Mesoamerica. The presentations reconsider and reevaluate concepts that have gained ground as valid sources of insight into conditions, motivations, and representations in civilizations and societies of the past. Although Mesoamerica figures importantly in this session, the discussion of the prevalent use of European-derived analytical concepts and how usage impacts our understanding of ancient cultures is pertinent to all archaeologists working in non-European contexts.
Other Keywords
Ethnohistory/History •
contact period •
Highland Mesoamerica: Postclassic •
Ideology •
Aztec •
Maya •
History Of Archaeology •
Indigenous •
ontology •
Iconography and epigraphy
Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
Belize (Country) •
Mesoamerica •
Hidalgo (State / Territory) •
Colima (State / Territory) •
Queretaro (State / Territory) •
Michoacan (State / Territory) •
Mexico (State / Territory) •
Morelos (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-5 of 5)
- Documents (5)
-
Anachronology in the Study of the Precolumbian Maya: Toward a Post-Postclassic (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. All Mayanists, and Mesoamericanists in general, are familiar with tripartite chronologies. The periodization of time in precolumbian Mesoamerica between a “Preclassic”/“Formative,” “Classic,” and “Postclassic” has been baked into the conceptual...
-
Classical Nahuatl or Language of the Aztecs: Historical Appropriation and the Enduring Legacies of (Neo)Colonialism (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Nahuatl, often referred to as the “Aztec language,” is one of the languages most widely identified, both in the academy and in public awareness, with prehispanic cultures. In archaeological and historical research, it often receives the name...
-
Killing and Sacrifice in the Precolonial Codices (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Human sacrifice and cannibalism are hallmarks of colonial discourse, which was developed to justify the conquest of the Americas. Particularly Aztec worldview has been presented consistently as pivoting on human sacrifices to “bloodthirsty...
-
Reconsidering the Penal System in Aztec Society: A New Perspective on Human Sacrifice and Enslavement (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The contribution deals with the question of how crimes were punished in the Aztec penal system. We know that Aztec society—as many other premodern societies—did not have prisons for long-term punishment of crimes, nor for any forms of preventive...
-
The Spurious Claim of “Human Sacrifice” (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Almost without question, “human sacrifice” is held as a legitimate concept by archaeologists—and the public. The concept is widely employed to explain aspects of Mesoamerican behavior. In this presentation, I argue that human sacrifice was never...