MOCHE HUMAN SACRIFICE

Over the last two decades scholars have debated the nature of Moche combat and human sacrifice. Human sacrifice and combat are depicted in Moche artwork, and numerous sacrificial victims have been excavated at Huaca de la Luna in the Moche Valley. One group of scholars purposes that Moche sacrificial victims were elite members of society who engaged in ritual combat. In contrast, others propose that sacrificial victims were captives taken in military conflicts between the Moche and other groups. Please read the following articles and evaluate these two completing theories.

Bourget, Steve
2001 Ritual Sacrifice: Its Practice at Huaca de la Luna and Its Representation in Moche Iconography. In Moche Art and Archaeology, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 89 109. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press. Donnan, Christopher

2001 Moche Ceramic Portraits. In Moche Art and Archaeology, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 126 139. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press.

Sutter, Richard C. and Rosa J. Cortez
2005 The Nature of Moche Human Sacrifice. Current Anthropology 46:521 549.

Verano, John W.
2001 War and Death in the Moche World: Osteological Evidence and Visual Discourse. In Moche Art and Archaeology, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, pp. 110 125. National Gallery of Art and Yale University Press.