New discoveries on human sacrifice: Help strengthen power in a classifying society

In the past, human sacrifices, which were thought to be associated with primitive societies. But the new study, published by Nature and New Zealand scientists in Nature, points out that the more popular people in society are categorized than in the original society. Therefore, the team thinks that sacrifice plays an important role in shaping and maintaining power.

The form of human sacrifice is characteristic of many early human societies such as Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Inuit, Africa, China and Japan, or in North, Central and South America but archaeological materials It is not easy to distinguish between people who die from sacrifices and any other violent deaths. Therefore, Joseph Watts at the University of Auckland, New Zealand and colleagues focused on studying the South Island cultures, because these cultures were originally from the same origin, and had many thorough surveys. They analyzed from data and observations on 93 South Island cultures, stretching from Taiwan to Madagascar, from New Zealand, to Hawaii to Easter Island.

A sacrificial ritual in Aztecs.(Drawing of Giulio Ferrario's, 1843).

Religious religions in this area are very diverse, but there is something in common that the ritual of sacrifice is practiced quite commonly - appearing in 43% of these cultures. Among the South Island cultures surveyed, the researchers found that only five of the original 20 societies had a sacrificial rite, while 18 of the 27 societies had a class division with a ritual of giving . born. Thus, the more in primitive societies, the less likely people are to be chosen to be sacrificed. Meanwhile, in classifying societies, an individual of a lower class is more likely to be chosen as a victim of sacrifice.

From the above statistics, scientists come to analyze and validate the hypothesis that the sacrifice of people contributes to "stabilize newly formed social stratification, and promotes transfer to adjacent class systems". . The author adds: "While the evolutionary theory of religion focuses on social and ethical functions (prosocial) of belief, our research results show clues. hidden link between religion and the evolution of modern layered societies ".

There is an interplay between the role of religion and the influence of political power, "for example, in Polynesia, there is often the belief that the chief is a descendant of the supreme being. The upper class in society, such as the chief or religious dignitaries, organizes it by choosing a low-class person in society as a slave or prisoner to sacrifice, " Watts said.

"A death is considered to be a sacrifice when it has a motivating element of religion. Although the sacrifice is not used to control (power) in modern society, religions still use this function. Our research underscores that religion is easily exploited by social dignitaries and becomes a tool to build and maintain social control - the use of human beings Using it as a means of social control is a creepy testament to this, " Watts said.

Although the study is significant for modern political systems, this study does not conduct judgments under King Luis XIV. He added: "In this study, we found no traces of sacrificial rituals in modern society, although it is really a very interesting issue."