Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant: Cut Marks as Evidence of Precolumbian Human Sacrifice and Postmortem Bone Modification on the North Coast of Peru

该项目寻求资金，用于分析与古代秘鲁莫切文化（公元100-800年）有关的带有切割痕迹的骨骸。 本研究的主要目的是调查莫切人的祭祀实践所代表的实物证据，并比较他们的理想化的行为描绘的莫切图像。 最近的考古发现支持了这样一种观点，即莫切肖像中的囚犯酷刑、牺牲、残害和肢解的场景可能描绘了真实的事件。 研究实际仪式行为和理想化仪式行为之间的关系，将有助于我们更全面地理解莫切人的技术、图像学和意识形态之间的相互关系，以及莫切人文化的总体关系。 该项目将提供必要的基线数据，以解决更大的问题，如莫切社会政治关系和宗教宇宙学。 在这项拟议的研究中，宏观和微观技术将被用来分析切割痕迹形态和图案从人类骨骼遗骸出土的莫切祭祀环境。 原始数据样本中包括的人类遗骸来自莫什山谷的Huaca de la Luna、奇卡马山谷的El Brujo和热克特佩克山谷的Dos Cabezas。 为了比较的目的，本研究包括了兰巴耶克（公元800-1375年）集体埋葬的人骨和莫切和兰巴耶克遗址的屠宰动物遗骸。 将记录切割痕迹的频率、位置、形态、长度、相对于彼此和骨长轴的方向、解剖学关联和推断的活动。 将在光学显微镜和扫描电子显微镜下检查所选切割痕迹的铸件，以记录关于切割痕迹形态和工具类型的更详细信息（即，金属对石头）。本论文的研究项目将解决切割痕迹的频率，图案，牺牲的受害者的区别对待，和工具类型的问题。 它还将比较人类遗骸上的切割痕迹位置和频率的模式与被屠杀的骆驼遗骸上的切割痕迹位置和频率的模式，并寻找随着时间的推移在跨文化对待牺牲者方面的变化。 此外，这个项目将包括切割标记模式的检查，看看它们是否可以用来识别不同类型的仪式活动，以及如何将实物证据与仪式行为的图像表示进行比较。

This project seeks funding for the analysis of osteological remains with cut marks associated with the Moche (A.D. 100-800) culture of ancient Peru. The principal goal of this study is to investigate Moche human sacrificial practices as represented by physical evidence, and compare them to idealized behavior depicted in Moche iconography. Recent archaeological discoveries have lent support to the argument that scenes of prisoner torture, sacrifice, mutilation, and dismemberment present in Moche iconography may depict actual events. Studying the relationship between actual and idealized ritual behavior will result in a more complete understanding of the interrelationships between Moche technology, iconography, and ideology in particular, and of Moche culture in general. This project will provide the baseline data necessary to address larger issues such as Moche socio-political relationships and religious cosmology. In this proposed study, macroscopic and microscopic techniques will be used to analyze cut mark morphology and patterning from human skeletal remains excavated from Moche sacrificial contexts. The human remains included in the primary data sample are from the Huaca de la Luna in the Moche Valley, El Brujo in the Chicama Valley, and Dos Cabezas in the Jequetepeque Valley. For comparative purposes, human bones from a Lambayeque (A.D. 800-1375) mass burial and butchered faunal remains from Moche and Lambayque sites are included in this study. Cut marks will be recorded in terms of frequency, location, morphology, length, orientation relative to one another and to the long axis of the bone, anatomical association, and inferred activity. Casts of selected cut marks will be examined under a light microscope and a scanning electron microscope to record more detailed information on cut mark morphology and tool type (i.e., metal vs. stone). This dissertation research project will address questions of cut mark frequencies, patterning, differential treatment of sacrificial victims, and tool type. It will also compare the patterns of cut mark location and frequency on human remains with those on butchered camelid remains and look for changes in the treatment of sacrificial victims cross-culturally through time. In addition, this project will include an examination of cut mark patterns to see if they can be used to identify different types of ritual activities, and how the physical evidence compares with iconographic representations of ritual behavior.