An Overview of Autosacrificial Instruments in Mesoamerica: Ethnohistory, Iconography, and Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sacrificial and Autosacrifice Instruments in Mesoamerica: Symbolism and Technology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

It is well-known that autosacrifice was a common practice among Mesoamerican societies since at least the Middle Formative period (ca. 900–300 BC). Iconography suggests that elites offered their blood and did penance to contact with the sacred realm. However, ethnohistoric evidence reveals that this practice was also carried out by non-elites with diverse objectives, using a variety of artifacts and in private spaces. While sacrifice has been recognized as a public act, autosacrifice seems to have been conceived as a personal and private ritual. For this reason, autosacrificial instruments are generally found in funerary contexts, accompanying their owners. Furthermore, archaeology has made it possible to identify autosacrificial tools in domestic contexts, showing the significance of this practice within different social levels. This presentation will offer an overview of the instruments used for autosacrifice in Mesoamerica through archaeological, iconographic, and ethnohistoric data to offer a cross-cultural approach to this fundamental ritual among Mesoamerican societies, stressing the variations through time and space.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Sacrificial and Autosacrifice Instruments in Mesoamerica: Symbolism and Technology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40260.0