Decapitation and Rebirth

Abstract

Decapitation was a common type of ritual sacrifice in the ancient Andes. Images of disembodied heads and decapitation were ubiquitous in the art of the Nasca culture, and the large numbers of physical remains of trophy heads found in the archaeological record of the area are unprecedented. However, few headless bodies have been recovered in the region. A burial from the site of La Tiza is the first documented decapitated burial that dates to Middle Nasca, a time of cultural transition. The debate over the role of decapitation and “trophy heads” centers on whether these heads were taken in battle or were members of the community offered up for ritual sacrifice. Regardless of who these individuals were, it is evident that decapitation and keeping of trophy heads were central to rituals of renewal. The La Tiza burial was associated with an earlier cemetery and habitation area, suggesting a relationship between rituals of fertility and regeneration and the role of the ancestors.

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