Human trophy taking in Mesoamerica

Human sacrifice shown on a panel at one of the ballcourts at El Tajín, Veracruz, in Mexico.

Most of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica such as the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec and Aztec cultures practised some kind of taking of human trophies during warfare. Captives taken during war would often be taken to their captors' city-states where they would be ritually tortured and sacrificed. These practices are documented by a rich material of iconographic and archaeological evidence from across Mesoamerica.

In ancient Maya culture

Evidence of the ritualistic sacrifice and taking human body parts as trophies in Maya civilization exists from as far back as the Middle Formative period (800 – 500 BC). The evidence consists of skeletal remains and depictions in Maya iconography, commonly showing acts of human sacrifice. Excavations at the non-Maya site of Teotihuacan have unearthed the remains of hundreds of bodies that are thought to represent a mass sacrifice at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. At the Temple of the Moon, another excavation site, there were a number of decapitated remains found along with numerous bound bodies of headless males. Given these two examples of mass sacrificial sites, there is no reason why this couldn't have taken place in Maya society.

With that in mind, there are other possible explanations that are commonly used among the Maya. It is not unreasonable to think that some of these sites are examples of ancestral veneration. This was a selective social practice in which ancestors were considered a subset of all the deceased and were the ones who validated political power, status and access to resources. There is also proof that the mortuary practices of the region were varied and once thought to be evidence of human sacrifice. They were commonly found in locations of tomb reuse and secondary burial practice.

It is believed for the most part, that the soldiers didn’t patrol in large armies; rather there were many smaller groups or raiding parties. Most of these battles were driven by the desire for domination and the intention to intimidate other cities. During this time it was not uncommon that the victors of a battle would take captives back to their cities and use them for ritual sacrifice. In some instances they would bind or hinder the captive so that he could not fairly compete in a winner-take-all ballcourt match. Herein, the loser would be beheaded and the victor would, in certain situations, keep his head as a trophy and confirm victory in order to establish his city's dominance.

In the Popul Vuh, the vision of human sacrifice and decapitation is abundantly clear and emphasized. However, in instances of decapitation, the sacrifice was intended to signify rebirth and creation. This theme is confirmed when the Hero Twins played the Lords of Death in a ball game match and ended up tricking the Lords of Death into decapitating themselves. With the Lords of Death out of the picture, the Hero Twins were able to resurrect their father, the Maize God. This shows the significance of sacrifice and decapitation in warfare as a means to reenact rebirth, in the Popul Vuh.

Maya art

Maya art and iconography is a major source to anthropologists knowledge and beliefs about the culture and history of the Maya. For instance, at the site of Bonampak, photographer Giles Healy discovered exquisite murals showing a battle and its aftermath, including the torture of captives. Other examples of Maya art depicting sacrifice and torture include: carved stone stelae, altars, and panels. There is evidence that this type of art was recorded on wood and other perishable media, but they have eroded with time.

Iconographic depictions of trophy heads tend to show the heads being suspended in mid-air, held by the hair, or even upside down. In addition they depict blood or possibly other fluids flowing from the neck, eyes or mouth. Holding a head by the hair is seen as a sign of disrespect. In Maya iconography, these heads are usually fastened upright with the eyes opened and are worn on a belt that is positioned on the small of the wearers back. The actual act of decapitation in the iconography is rare, but does appear from time to time. The most common place to see the decapitation of human heads being worn or presented as trophy heads are on painted cylinder vases of the Late Classic period and usually involve the Hero Twins or some type of Creation myth.

Archaeological examples

Los Mangales (Early Preclassic)

Los Mangales lies within the Salama Valley in the Northern Highlands of Guatemala. It has been estimated that this site was active from approximately 1000-400 BC and had vast elaborate burials. Three principal mounds entail the main composition of the site and at the mound (Str. D6-1) they revealed three major crypt burials. These burials contained numerous amounts of adult male crania that are interpreted as trophy heads or possibly dismembered sacrificial retainers. This site is primarily composed of 3 principal mounds and multiple burial sites. In particular at burial site 6, there was conclusive evidence of human sacrifice, where they found at least 12 dismembered victims as well as three possible trophy heads. The heads were found lying inside the crypt with specific individuals. A common trend at this site is that the victims found outside the formal crypt were lying in the prone position and the individuals that were inside the crypt were in the supine position. Prone, meaning that their wrists and ankles were bound tightly together and that they were faced down, this eludes to binding. However, finding a body in the prone position does not mean that the individual was a victim of sacrifice. This is opposed to the supine position where an individual is laying face up and unbound.It is believed that finding isolated crania were seen as early evidence of trophy taking in the Maya region.

El Chalchuapa (Preclassic)

Evidence of sacrifice and trophy taking was found at an evacuation site in El Chalchuapa , El Salvador. The remains of 33 individuals were found and had appeared to have been victims of ritual sacrifice that had spanned five different episodes of construction to the structure. Many of the individuals were found to be male and most were lying in the prone position. Of the individuals found it was noted that they were represented as crania and hence being determined as trophy heads. The others had a range of signs of mutilation, including: one individual was missing his/her head, two were cut in half at the waist, one individual was missing their legs and another was missing their feet. Given the age of the individuals, the absence of grave goods, the positions and placement of the bodies, the lack of grave preparation and the evidence for dismemberment seems to show that these individuals were war captives and then used in a form of ritualistic sacrifice.

Cuello, Belize ( Late Preclassic)

Cuello is a site that provides several examples of decapitation, dismemberment, and sacrifice of young to middle-aged males at public events. Here we see evidence of the sacrifice of children and one appeared to have been decapitated. It is here that we are seeing decapitated individuals in common grounds and public structures. In most mass burials there seem to be primary individuals in the center and they are surrounded by the remains of others.

Colha, Belize (Terminal Classic)

It is here that archaeologists discovered a large pit next to a stairway that was near the center of a monumental structure. This pit contained the heads of around 30 individuals. Ranging from the 6 months to 6 or 7 years old, there were remains of 10 children and the remaining 20 individuals were adults. Cut marks on the crania, the age grouping and the location of the pit has led to multiple conclusions on the reasoning of these sacrifices, one reason being that they were sacrificed as a part of a religious ceremony. Other ideas were: that they were political victims treated with ritual violence and another is that they were ancestors of an elite lineage that was violently deposed.

Teotihuacan (Feathered Serpent Pyramid)

At this excavation site in Mexico, archaeologists found roughly 72 males. Due to the evidence surrounding them they were determined to be soldiers. The individuals were placed in a series of highly structured graves that were below, and just outside, the pyramid. From the other evidence unearthed, it was found that each individual had between 7 and 11 human maxillae, or human jaw bones. These maxillae were mostly worn around the arm, more specifically the biceps of a soldier. This was seen as a testament of strength and power that proved that these individuals had been in multiple battles or campaigns. Along with the maxillae, the men had necklaces made of teeth, obsidian projectile points and slate disks located behind their lower back, which were commonly found on Teotihuacan military figures. This then leads the excavators to believe that these soldiers were of an elite class of warrior, and not just some semi-organized militia.

Along with the remains of apparent soldiers, there were also remains found of other males with rich offerings that would suggest they were members of higher social status. Once word had spread of this possibly profitable site, the looters came and destroyed much of the preserved evidence, in order to steal anything of value. This evidence proved that even at an early stage of Teotihuacan’s existence there was large scale human sacrifice as well as evidence of warfare related symbolism.

References

Berryman, Carrie Anne. (2007) “Captive Sacrifice and Trophy Taking Among the Ancient Maya” in The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts By Amerindians, edited by Richard J Chacon & David H Dye, pp. 377-399. Chapter 13. Springer Science + Business Media, New York.

O'Mansky, Matt & Arthur A Demarest. (2007) “Status Rivalry and Warfare in the Development and Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization” in Latin American Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence, edited by Richard J Chacon & Ruben G Chacon, pp. 11-34. Chapter 1. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Cowgill, L. George (2002). "Ritual Sacrifice and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid at Teotihuacan, Mexico". {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Spence, W. Michael (2004). Human Trophies Worn by the Sacrificial Soldiers from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

McAnany, A. Patricia (1998). "Ancestors and the Classic Maya Built Environment" (PDF). {{cite web}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)