The “Hands of God” as Instruments of Death and Creation: Physicality, Embodiment, and Symbolism of Sacrificial Knives in Mesoamerica

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.

In this talk, we shall analyze sacrificial knives in Mesoamerica’s (bio) archaeological record, among written sources, and iconography. Our survey emphasizes the diversity of cutting weaponry through time and cultural spheres. By combining forensic evidence with the material study of sacrificial knives, swords, and blades, put into perspective the implements with particular practices of laceration and penetration of the human body during and after sacrificial immolation. Their representations in codices and especially the specimens in museums allow us to approach the study of the handles, some with a rich iconography. We also find deities in the form of knives such as Itztli and Iztapaltótec in the codices and a large corpus of knives with divine attire in the ritual deposits of the Templo Mayor. Thus, deities such as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Xiuhtecuhtli, and Xochipilli were represented as flint knives with different characteristic attire. The symbolism of flint is linked to sacrificial death but also to the birth of gods from knives represented in codices and illustrated in myths and to concepts of fertilization. For all of the above, the flint knife materializes one of the main significations of human sacrifice: to generate life from death.

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)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38222.0