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Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

news.nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#31

Post by Jedd »

yosito wrote: post #13
Jedd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if this kind of customs helped the Spanish conquest and subsequent colonization of the Inca/Aztec Empire. I don't think so. It's probably mostly down to what Jared Diamond describes - Guns, Germs, and Steel. The occasional score of children and conquests slaughtered voluntarily is dwarfed by the numbers of natives that died from smallpox (f.e.).

Guns may have had much less to do with it than is commonly believed. I recommend the book 1492 if you're curious about why that is.

I tend to agree. I suspect the availability of guns was useful in a few key engagements, but the accidental weaponisation of smallpox (for example) was much more effective in wiping out indigenous forces.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#32

Post by w0de0 »

dustincoates wrote: post #28
tptacek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nazis deliberately murdered children by the thousands, but nobody would call those “human sacrifices”.

Incidentally, that's what "Holocaust" means, and why many instead use the word "Shoah." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Holocaust > The word "holocaust" originally derived from the Greek word holokauston, meaning "a completely (holos) burnt (kaustos) sacrificial offering," or "a burnt sacrifice offered to a god." > In Judaism, Shoah (שואה), meaning "calamity" in Hebrew, became the standard term for the 20t…

Do 'Nakba' and 'Shoah' share an etymology?

Their etiologies are mixed, at least.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#33

Post by tptacek »

yosito wrote: post #29
tptacek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're talking about an archeological find dated roughly 3500 years ago. Within the same span of time, human sacrifice was practiced in parts of Europe as well. Few of us use that fact as an opportunity to spread rumors that the modern-day Italians or Welsh continue to do so.

We must have read different articles. The one I read said it was dated around 1450AD.

Ah, you're right. I must have mixed it up with something else I was reading; that article (someone posted it on Fb) sent me off on a reading jag.

My point stands! But, like, an order of magnitude attenuated.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#34

Post by psergeant »

red75prime wrote: post #26
psergeant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He didn’t stop himself, according to the story, God intervened. He was willing To go the whole hog

Do you think it was what really happened? Guy hears the voice telling him to kill his son, then someone stops him.

I don’t believe any of Harry Potter really happened either, but that doesn’t mean I can arbitrarily claim the story is different from what it is.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#35

Post by red75prime »

psergeant wrote: post #34
red75prime wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think it was what really happened? Guy hears the voice telling him to kill his son, then someone stops him.

I don’t believe any of Harry Potter really happened either, but that doesn’t mean I can arbitrarily claim the story is different from what it is.

Please, remind me how significant are fairy tales in the context of discussing actual children sacrifices? The fact (well, the fact in the story) is Abraham haven't killed its own son.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#36

Post by red75prime »

red75prime wrote: post #35
psergeant wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe any of Harry Potter really happened either, but that doesn’t mean I can arbitrarily claim the story is different from what it is.

Please, remind me how significant are fairy tales in the context of discussing actual children sacrifices? The fact (well, the fact in the story) is Abraham haven't killed its own son.

I'm sorry, I cannot interpret readers' reaction in any meaningful way. Did Abraham killed his own son? Or is it my mistyping of 'its own son'?

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#37

Post by leetcrew »

red75prime wrote: post #35
psergeant wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe any of Harry Potter really happened either, but that doesn’t mean I can arbitrarily claim the story is different from what it is.

Please, remind me how significant are fairy tales in the context of discussing actual children sacrifices? The fact (well, the fact in the story) is Abraham haven't killed its own son.

my comment that started this thread was admittedly of low quality.

to the extent that i am making a real point here, it is just that westerners should probably not find the idea of willing child sacrifice so bizarre/unbelievable when the common patriarch of judaism, christianity, and islam is portrayed as being totally devoted and willing in one of the faiths' most well known stories.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#38

Post by bambax »

tptacek wrote: post #25
bambax wrote: post #4

Why "sacrifice" and not murder? > "People sacrifice that which is of most and greatest value to them," he explains. But then: > isotopic analysis indicates that they were not all drawn from local populations but likely came from different ethnic groups and regions of the Chimú Empire To accept to have your own child taken from you and cut open to offer its heart to some angry God supposes an amount of "faith" difficu…

The Nazis deliberately murdered children by the thousands, but nobody would call those “human sacrifices”.

But that's my point. Are you concurring or disagreeing?

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#39

Post by yosito »

Jedd wrote: post #31
yosito wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guns may have had much less to do with it than is commonly believed. I recommend the book 1492 if you're curious about why that is.

I tend to agree. I suspect the availability of guns was useful in a few key engagements, but the accidental weaponisation of smallpox (for example) was much more effective in wiping out indigenous forces.

Another thing to consider is that European guns sucked during that time period. Bows and arrows and other native weapons were probably very competitive.

Re: Ancient Mass Child Sacrifice in Peru May Be World's Largest

#40

Post by adrianratnapala »

tptacek wrote: post #33
yosito wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We must have read different articles. The one I read said it was dated around 1450AD.

Ah, you're right. I must have mixed it up with something else I was reading; that article (someone posted it on Fb) sent me off on a reading jag. My point stands! But, like, an order of magnitude attenuated.

It's an important order of magnitude. We are talking about religion here, and among other things, religions are tools for transmitting cultural knowledge and practices down through centuries and millenia. 550 years is not really such a long time for a religion.
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