Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru

Herausgeber: Benson, Elizabeth P; Cook, Anita G

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Propitiating the supernatural forces that could grant bountiful crops or wipe out whole villages through natural disasters was a sacred duty in ancient Peruvian societies, as in many premodern cultures. Ritual sacrifices were considered necessary for this propitiation and for maintaining a proper reciprocal relationship between humans and the supernatural world. The essays in this book examine the archaeological evidence for ancient Peruvian sacrificial offerings of human beings, animals, and objects, as well as the cultural contexts in which the offerings occurred, from around 2500 B.C. until Inca times just before the Spanish Conquest. Major contributions come from the recent archaeological fieldwork of Steve Bourget, Anita Cook, and Alana Cordy-Collins, as well as from John Verano's laboratory work on skeletal material from recent excavations. Mary Frame, who is a weaver as well as a scholar, offers rich new interpretations of Paracas burial garments, and Donald Proulx presents a fresh view of the nature of Nasca warfare. Elizabeth Benson's essay provides a summary of sacrificial practices.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: University of Texas Press
• Seitenzahl: 227
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juli 2001
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 230mm x 152mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 367g
• ISBN-13: 9780292708945
• ISBN-10: 0292708947
• Artikelnr.: 22076461

Autorenporträt

Elizabeth P. Benson is a Research Associate of the Institute of Andean Studies, Berkeley. Anita G. Cook is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Catholic University of America.

Inhaltsangabe

* Preface and Acknowledgments (Elizabeth P. Benson and Anita G. Cook)
* Chapter 1. Why Sacrifice? (Elizabeth P. Benson)
* Chapter 2. Decapitation in Cupisnique and Early Moche Societies
(Alana Cordy-Collins)
* Chapter 3. Blood and the Moon Priestesses: Spondylus Shells in Moche
Ceremony (Alana Cordy-Collins)
* Chapter 4. Blood, Fertility, and Transformation: Interwoven Themes in
the Paracas Necropolis Embroideries (Mary Frame)
* Chapter 5. Children and Ancestors: Ritual Practices at the Moche Site
of Huaca de la Luna, North Coast of Peru (Steve Bourget)
* Chapter 6. Ritual Uses of Trophy Heads in Ancient Nasca Society
(Donald A. Proulx)
* Chapter 7. Huari D-Shaped Structures, Sacrificial Offerings, and
Divine Rulership (Anita G. Cook)
* Chapter 8. The Physical Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Peru
(John W. Verano)
* Bibliography
* Index