Ritual violence in the ancient Andes
Subtitle: reconstructing sacrifice on the north coast of Peru
By: edited by Haagen D. Klaus and J. Marla Toyne
Edition: First edition.
Series: The William & Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the Western Hemisphere; William & Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the Western Hemisphere
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 468
ISBN-13: 9781477309377; 9781477309636
Subjects: Sacrifice; Human sacrifice; Indians of South America; Antiquities; Rites and ceremonies
Description: Traditions of sacrifice exist in almost every human culture and often embody a society's most meaningful religious and symbolic acts. Ritual violence was particularly varied and enduring in the prehistoric South American Andes, where human lives, animals, and material objects were sacrificed in secular rites or as offerings to the divine. Spectacular discoveries of sacrificial sites containing the victims of violent rituals have drawn ever-increasing attention to ritual sacrifice within Andean archaeology. Responding to this interest, this volume provides the first regional overview of ritual killing on the pre-Hispanic north coast of Peru, where distinct forms and diverse trajectories of ritual violence developed during the final 1,800 years of prehistory. Presenting original research that blends empirical approaches, iconographic interpretations, and contextual analyses, the contributors address four linked themes-the historical development and regional variation of north coast sacrifice from the early first millennium AD to the European conquest; a continuum of ritual violence that spans people, animals, and objects; the broader ritual world of sacrifice, including rites both before and after violent offering; and the use of diverse scientific tools, archaeological information, and theoretical interpretations to study sacrifice. This research reveals a previously unknown diversity of ritual killing on both geographic and temporal scales. It also proposes a wide range of new questions that will shape the research agenda in the coming decades, while fostering a nuanced, scientific, and humanized approach to the archaeology of ritual violence that is applicable to archaeological contexts around the world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-450) and index.
Table of contents: title: Chapter one.; title: Ritual violence on the north coast of Peru : perspectives and prospects in the archaeology of ancient Andean sacrifice  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- J. Marla Toyne -- Part One.; title: Ancient ritual variation and methodological advances in studies of sacrifice  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- J. Marla Toyne. -- Chapter two.; title: Ritual killing, mutilation, and dismemberment at Huaca de la Luna : sharp force trauma among Moche sacrifice victims in Plazas 3A and 3C  -- Laurel S. Hamilton ; -- Chapter three.; title: The taphonomy of ritual killing on the north coast of Peru : perspectives from Huaca de la Luna and Pacatnamú  -- Heather C. Backo ; -- Chapter four.; title: Ritual strangulation in the Southern Moche world : mortuary ligatures as tools of liturgical violation  -- David Chicoine ; -- Chapter five.; title: Bodies and blood : Middle Sicán human sacrifice in the Lambayeque Valley complex (AD 900-1100)  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- Izumi Shimada ; -- Chapter six.; title: Precious gifts : mortuary patterns and the shift from animal to human sacrifice at Santa Rita B in the middle Chao Valley, Peru  -- Catherine Gaither, -- Jonathan Kent, -- Jonathan Bethard, -- Victor Vasquez, and -- Teresa Rosales ; -- Chapter 7.; title: Human sacrifice at the Chotuna-Chornancap archaeological complex : traditions and transformations of ritual violence under Chimú and Inka rule  -- Haagen D. Klaus, -- Bethany L. Turner, -- Fausto Saldaña, -- Samuel Castillo, and -- Carlos Wester -- Part Two.; title: Ancient identities, ambiguous deaths, and complex burials  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- J. Marla Toyne. -- Chapter eight.; title: Life before death : a paleopathological examination of human sacrifice at the Tiemplo de la Piedra Sagrada, Túcume, Peru  -- J. Marla Toyne ; -- Chapter nine.; title: The killing of captives on the north coast of Peru in pre-Hispanic times : iconographic and bioarchaeological evidence  -- John W. Verano and -- Sara S. Phillips : -- Chapter ten.; title: Reconsidering retainers : identity, death, and sacrifice in high-status funerary contexts on the north coast of Peru  -- Sylvia Bentley and -- Haagen D. Klaus ; -- Chapter eleven.; title: Human sacrifice : a view from San José de Moro  -- Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao, -- Mellisa Lund, -- Luis Jaime Castillo, and -- Lars Fehren-Schmitz -- Part Three.; title: Continuums of killing : sacrifice of animals and objects  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- J. Marla Toyne. -- Chapter twelve.; title: Life histories of sacrificed camelids from Huancaco (Virú Valley)  -- Paul Szpak, -- Jean-François Millaire, -- Christine White, -- Steve Bourget, and -- Fred Longstaffe ; -- Chapter thirteen.; title: Posts and pots : propitiary ritual at Huaca Santa Clara in the Virú Valley, Peru  -- Jean-François Millaire -- Part Four.; title: Perspectives from beyond the north coast of Peru  -- Haagen D. Klaus and -- J. Marla Toyne. -- Chapter fourteen.; title: Practicing and performing sacrifice  -- Tiffiny A. Tung ; -- Chapter fifteen.; title: Mesoamerican perspectives on the (bio)archaeology of Andean ritual violence -- Vera Tiesler.