Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica

Rubén G. Mendoza, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, Founding/Planning Faculty, and former Chair of the Division of Social, Behavioral, and Global Studies at the California State University, Monterey Bay. He has conducted archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations in California, Colorado, the US Southwest, and Mesoamerica. His research interests include Mesoamerican and South American civilizations and social complexity, long-distance trade and exchange, Amerindian warfare, conflict interaction, social violence, bioarchaeology, terror management, architectures of aggression, and Hispanicized Indian and Amerindian traditional technologies and material cultures. He is an active field archaeologist, and the Principal of Archives & Archaeology, a cultural resources management firm based in Salinas, California. Linda P. Hansen, Ph.D., is a Mesoamerican scholar specializing in religious studies and comparative approaches to ancient and modern cultures. Herscholarly investigations include comparative research of Tree of Life cosmology and iconography in Mesoamerica. This diachronic investigation spans multiple eras and cultures, including Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Mixtec, and Mexica. Hansen has taught courses at various universities and is now conducting research as an independent scholar. She is presently CEO and Cofounder of Fund Duel Inc.  and Paradisium, the metaverse for good. These companies are disruptive models that are transforming and democratizing the virtual giving space through global charity concerts, sporting events, and corporate conferences.

• Acknowledgments.- Foreword by Richard J. Chacon.- 1. Introduction Rubén G. Mendoza and Linda Hansen.- Part I - Recent Archaeological Evidence 2. Blood Tribute, Earth Offerings, and the Formative Origins of Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica Rubén G. Mendoza and Gary Velasco.- 3 Shifting Perspectives on Human Sacrifice at Midnight Terror Cave, Belize Cristina Verdugo, Lars Fehren-Schmitz, and James E. Brady.- 4. Ritual Human Sacrifice Among the Tarascans of West Mexico Cinthia Marlene Campos, José Luis Punzo-Díaz, and Carlos Karam Tapia.- Part II - Iconographic and Contextual Evidence 5. Portals to the Gods: Reciprocity, Sacrifice, and Warfare in the Northern Mixteca Carlos Rincón Mautner.- 6. The Hacha, Decapitation Sacrifice, and Classic Veracruz History Rex Koontz.- 7. Blood and Water: A Mesoamerican SocialCement Annabeth Headrick.- 8. Divine Combat, Warrior Merchants, and Ritual Sacrifice in the Mesoamerican Epiclassic, AD 750-1050 Lucha de Luna Martínez.- 9. The Harvest of Souls: Mimesis, Materiality, and Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica Rubén G. Mendoza.- Part III - Emerging Theoretical Perspectives 10. Filled with Divine Fire: Mesoamerican Human Sacrifice and Costumed Rituals as Acts of Deicide Mark Wright.- 11. Bodily Transformation and Sacralization: Human Sacrifice in Southwestern Mesoamerica Javier Urcid.- 12. Human Sacrifice at Tula: Reputation, Representation, and Reality Keith Jordan.- 13. The Myth of the Willing Human Sacrifice: The Complex Nature of Human Sacrifice in Aztec Ceremonialism Linda Hansen Part IV - The Ethnographic Present 14. Indigenous Sacrifice in the Christian Language: Among the Communities of the NorthernMixteca, Oaxaca, Mexico Carlos Rincón Mautner.- 15. Deicide and Fertility in Ch’orti’ Maya Myth and Ritual Kerry Hull.- Index.