Art of the Americas

Human sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures

The practice of human sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures—particularly those in Mesoamerica and South America—is well documented both in the archaeological records and in written sources. The exact ideologies behind child sacrifice in different pre-Columbian cultures are unknown but it is often thought to have been performed to placate certain deities.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Aztec cuisine
• ▸English overseas possessions
• ▸Bill Reid

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.