Published by Science Daily
SAN MARCOS, Texas, May 30 (UPI) -- U.S. archaeologists say a recently excavated headless Peruvian skeleton has expanded their understanding of ancient Andean rituals.
Images of disembodied heads are widespread in the art of Nasca, a culture based on the southern coast of Peru from about 1 A.D. to 750 A.D. Despite that evidence and the discovery of many trophy heads in the region, only eight headless bodies have been recovered with evidence of decapitation, said Christina Conlee of Texas State University.
Conlee's analysis of the recently excavated headless body from the site of the ancient community of La Tiza provides important new data on decapitation and its relationship to ancient ideas of death and regeneration.
"Human sacrifice and decapitation were part of powerful rituals that would have allayed fears by invoking the ancestors to ensure fertility and the continuation of Nasca society," Conlee said. "The decapitation of the La Tiza individual appears to have been part of a ritual associated with ensuring agricultural fertility and the continuation of life and rebirth of the community."
She details her findings in the June issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
SAN MARCOS, Texas, May 30 (UPI) -- U.S. archaeologists say a recently excavated headless Peruvian skeleton has expanded their understanding of ancient Andean rituals.
Images of disembodied heads are widespread in the art of Nasca, a culture based on the southern coast of Peru from about 1 A.D. to 750 A.D. Despite that evidence and the discovery of many trophy heads in the region, only eight headless bodies have been recovered with evidence of decapitation, said Christina Conlee of Texas State University.
Conlee's analysis of the recently excavated headless body from the site of the ancient community of La Tiza provides important new data on decapitation and its relationship to ancient ideas of death and regeneration.
"Human sacrifice and decapitation were part of powerful rituals that would have allayed fears by invoking the ancestors to ensure fertility and the continuation of Nasca society," Conlee said. "The decapitation of the La Tiza individual appears to have been part of a ritual associated with ensuring agricultural fertility and the continuation of life and rebirth of the community."
She details her findings in the June issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
