Providing Cultural Context for ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts’

Abstract

In 'Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts', C.L. Kieffer proposes that the disabled formed a socially marginal group that might have been preferentially targeted for human sacrifice in ancient Maya society. Extensive ethnohistoric and iconographic evidence exists that the disabled and deformed held high status in pre-contact Mesoamerica precisely because of their physical disabilities and played well-defined social roles. Several incidences of the sacrifice of these individuals are produced, but they are associated with extraordinary events. The actual cultural context suggests that the sacrifice of a disabled individual may have larger social implications.

Ancient DNA Clarifies Osteological Analyses of Commingled Remains from Midnight Terror Cave, Belize

“…This is precisely the type of question that can be addressed by paleogenetics. As Scott () underscores in describing this issue, if the bones did belong to a single individual and that person did suffer from type I KFS, they would undoubtedly have been treated as a disabled or deformed person. Scott shows that such individuals were not socially marginal but rather held valued and socially important statuses.…”