Ritual human sacrifices played a key role in forging more unequal societies and helped higher political and religious hierarchies maintain power over citizens .
Joseph Watts, lead author of research carried out by the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the Max Planck Institute for the Science of the History of Humanity in Germany and the University of Victoria (Australia), states that “although the Religion has traditionally been considered as the depository and promoter of ethics and cooperation, our study reveals that religious rituals of mass sacrifices played a sinister role in the evolution of modern societies ”.
These experts have analyzed the relationship between the uneven and strongly hierarchical structure – social stratification – of the cultures of the past and ritual human sacrifices with computerized research methods derived from evolutionary biology. To do this, they studied historical data from 93 Austronesian cultures and found that the practice of human sacrifice was significant throughout the Pacific , as 40 of the 93 societies included in the study practiced some form of ritualistic human slaughter.
The Austronesian peoples have a common origin in Taiwan and from there they expanded west to Madagascar, east to Easter Island and south to New Zealand . Ritual methods of human sacrifice included burning, drowning, strangulation, stoning, beheading, and dismemberment. The victims were generally of low social status or slaves, while the instigators of the sacrifices were people of high status, such as priests and chiefs.
The study divided the 93 cultures into three main groups of high, moderate, or low social stratification. It was found that the most hierarchical and classist cultures were more inclined to practice human sacrifices (67%). Among the moderately stratified peoples, 37% resorted to human sacrifice, and the most egalitarian societies were the least bloodthirsty (25% practiced ritual deaths). “Through human sacrifice, elites punished those who broke rules and taboos, demoralizing the lower class and instilling fear in the powerful , who were better able to maintain social control,” says Watts.
Professor Russell Gray, co-author of the study, emphasizes that “human sacrifice provides an especially effective means of social control . Relying on a supernatural justification for punishment, rulers, priests and chiefs considered themselves descendants or representatives of the gods and sacrifice Ritual human was the ultimate demonstration of his power. “
