The Spurious Claim of “Human Sacrifice”

Summary

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 a Mesoamerican practice, that human sacrifice did not exist as a concept in Mesoamerica, and finally, that the concept of “human sacrifice”—the killing of a human to please a god—is bogus. Taking the life of an individual for a god was never a primary motive for socially sanctioned killing in Mesoamerica, or anywhere.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Misinformation and Misrepresentation Part 2: Reconsidering “Human Sacrifice,” Religion, Slavery, Modernity, and Other European-Derived Concepts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38768.0