Human Sacrifice Is Linked To Social Hierarchies In New Study

[HuckleB]

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/04/473004808/human-sacrifice-is-linked-to-social-hierarchies-in-new-study

"Saying they found "a darker link between religion and the evolution of modern hierarchical societies" than has been previously suggested, a group of scientists say ritual human sacrifice promoted stratified social systems – and helped to sustain inherited class systems once they were established.

After comparing dozens of societies, the researchers found that ritualized human sacrifice was far more common in highly stratified societies than it was in egalitarian societies. Noting the high level of overlap between religious and political sectors in the societies, the scientists write, "human sacrifice may have been co-opted by elites as a divinely sanctioned means of social control."

Acknowledging that their findings might be "unpalatable," the scientists say, "our results suggest that ritual killing helped humans transition from the small egalitarian groups of our ancestors, to the large stratified societies we live in today."

For the study, researchers looked at 93 traditional Austronesian cultures – societies that share a family of languages and span from Madagascar to Easter Island and from Taiwan to New Zealand. For each one, they noted how segmented the society was — designating them egalitarian or either moderate or highly stratified — as well as the presence of human sacrifice in their rituals.

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Hmmmmm.

[Javaman]

1. we call it the death penalty. nt

[Orrex]

3. ^^Thread win

[HuckleB]

4. Indeed, though lesser punishments do the trick, too.

[ck4829]

2. Capital punishment, war, treatment of the poor, dehumanization

We don't put on human skin head dresses and take out the hearts of people on top of ziggurats anymore, but society does eliminate certain classes of people and then find ways to rationalize it and keep it going.

[HuckleB]

5. Alas, indeed.

[KamaAina]

6. "Acknowledging that their findings might be "unpalatable,""

"unpalatable"?!

[HuckleB]

7. Thus, ushering in the era of the spice trade.

[Angel Martin]

8. Interesting

at the core of philosopher Henri Girard's theory of the origins of human culture and human religion is a "foundational murder", where everyone in a primitive human group participates in the unanimous slaughter of a single human scapegoat.

The unanimous scapegoating unites the group and establishes the first human created culture based on unanimous participation in a single act.

A religion is created which both illustrates the origin and creation of the community, and sustains the unity of the community.

The religion is based on repeated human sacrifice, which celebrates the creation and unity of the community by re-enacting the foundational murder.

A hierarchy is established in the community. A priesthood is created to lead the community by organizing the human sacrifices.

Girard was a philosopher and literature professor who got all this out of an analysis of the commonalities in archaic myths and legends across different societies.

It is interesting to me that anthropologists looking at the correlation between human sacrifice and hierarchy, are coming up with a similar explanation.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Girard,+Rene

[HuckleB]

9. Indeed. -eom-

[CTyankee]

10. The Lord of the Flies indeed...