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Human Sacrifice and Value: Revisiting the Limits of Sacred Violence from an Anthropological and Archaeological Perspective book cover

1st Edition

Human Sacrifice and Value Revisiting the Limits of Sacred Violence from an Anthropological and Archaeological Perspective

Edited By Matthew J. Walsh, Sean O'Neill, Marianne Moen, Svein H. Gullbekk, Eva-Johanna Marie Lafuente Nilsson Copyright 2024
422 Pages 72 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

422 Pages 72 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

422 Pages 72 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
The present volume was made possible by the Norwegian Research Council’s generous funding of the Human Sacrifice and Value project (FRIPROHUMSAM 275947). This volume explores concepts of human sacrifice, focusing on its value – or multiplicity of values – in relative cultural and temporal terms, whether sacrifice is expressed in actual killings, in ideas revolving around ritualized, sanctioned or... Read more

            Foreword                                                                                                       

            Rane Willerslev                                                                                                                                                                      

1          Introduction: Introducing Sacrificial Values             

            Sean O’Neill, Matthew J. Walsh and Marianne Moen

 

PART I

Observing Sacrificial Logics and Social Values                            

 

2          Some Human Sacrifices in Mongolia and Their Rationales

            Caroline Humphrey

 

3          CEO Dismissal as an Act of Human Sacrifice: Metaphor or Reality?                      

Jan Ketil Arnulf, Janicke Rasmussen, Sandra Hjersing and Thea Berner

 

4          The Economy of Sacrifice: Christ, Coins and the Eucharist in the Middle Ages

            Svein H. Gullbekk and Martin Wansgaard Jurgensen

 

PART II

Reading Logics and Values From Archaeology                           

 

5          Competitive Violence and Ruling Elites in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia               

            Aubrey Baadsgaard

 

6          Human Sacrifice in Ancient Near Eastern Societies 

            Stephen Lumsden and David Usieto Cabrera

                                   

7          The Social Context of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Egypt

Roselyn A. Campbell

 

8          Funerary Dramas and Ritual Killing in the Slavic World: Written Sources and Archaeological Realities                     

            Leszek Gardeła

 

9          From Brave Warriors to Innocent Children: Understanding the Foundations of Ritual Violence in the Moche Valley, North Coast of Peru, 200–1450 A.D.            

            Gabriel Prieto and John Verano

 

10        Human Sacrifices at Huaca Pucllana in Lima, Peru  

            Andreas v. Wadskjær, Jens H. Nederby and Luise Ørsted Brandt

 

11        Making an Impact: Ritual Public Goods and the Emergence of Retainer Sacrifice in an Early State of Korea                                                             

            Matthew Conte and Jangsuk Kim

 

12        Ritual Killings as Resource Complex in the Viking Age Funeral Ceremony           

            Matthias S. Toplak

 

 

PART III

Reading Transitions in Value Through Exegesis, Ethnology and Critical Synthesis

 

13        Sacrifice in Contemporary Vernacular and Ancient Ritual Texts

            Margo Kitts

 

14        Aztec Sacrificial Celebrations as Entertainment? The Physiological and Social Psychological Rewards Attending Aztec Human Sacrifice     

            Linda Hansen

 

15        Human Sacrifice as Social Control Through Terror  

            Michael James Winkelman

 

16        From Sacrificed Humans to Self-Sacrificing Humans: A Longue-Durée Bio-Cultural Evolutionary Perspective on Human Sacrifice                    

            Anders Klostergaard Petersen

 

Index

 

Biography

Matthew J. Walsh is Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sean O’Neill is Research Counsel in the Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway.

Marianne Moen is Head of Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway.

Eva-Johanna Marie Lafuente Nilsson is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway.

Svein H. Gullbekk is Professor in the Section for Numismatics and Classical Archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Norway.

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