Summary Of Moge Human Sacrifice

The film, “Moche Human Sacrifice” discusses the investigation of a Moche site with a significant amount of human remains. John Verano, a forensic anthropologist, set out to learn about the Moche’s victims. He and his team knew to start looking based on depictions of sacrifice and torture in pottery art. The team found numerous victims in mass graves. Some bodies had evidence of their throats being slit, some were decapitated, and some were covered in cuts. At first glance, the human remains found here demonstrate torture and killing for some purpose. The film somewhat focuses on one particular set of remains, an intentional burial of a head and a pair of feet. These questions raised questions about the purpose of the sacrifice, how it occurred,
These miners make offerings and sacrifices to the spirit of the mine in hopes that they can continue to mine in peace. From these people, Verano could make some inferences about the role of blood in the Moche’s lives. In the lab, Verano and his team were able to identify the composition of the tools used to inflict the damage. Additionally, samples from the field were sent out for isotopic analysis. Measuring the isotopic composition of samples such as hair can provide clues about the identity of the Moche victims. In the film, Verano collected hair samples from local, extant populations to compare to the composition of hair found at the site. Considering that even diet affects the isotopic makeup of hair, this was a useful method to gather more information about the Moche victims. In the end, Verano determined that sacrifice for the Moche was something of a power statement. Killing warriors of another society demonstrated that they were the winners, they were the more powerful group. The demonstration of violence proved to subordinates, and potentially other cultures, that their leaders are strong and should be