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HUMAN SACRIFICE AND DIVINE NOURISHMENT IN MESOAMERICA: THE ICONOGRAPHY OF CACAO ON THE PACIFIC COAST OF GUATEMALA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06525
*
E-mail correspondence to: oswaldo.chinchilla@yale.edu
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Abstract

This article explores the sacrificial symbolism of cacao (Theobroma sp.) on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, manifest in the iconography of ceramic objects and stone sculptures from the Classic period, in textual references from the colonial period, and in contemporary ethnographic data from the southern highlands. The iconographic and textual metaphors contained in these sources linked cacao pods with dead warriors, captives, and sacrificial victims. As interpreted in this article, the harvest of cacao was equated with the acquisition of sacrificial victims, and both were conceived as precious sources of nourishment for the gods. Changes in artistic representations are discernible from Early Classic Teotihuacan-style censers to Early Postclassic Plumbate ceramic effigies. Cacao and other fruits from the Pacific coastal piedmont are still related to the symbolism of war and sacrifice in contemporary rituals from the Tz'utujil town of Santiago Atitlán. Data from southern Guatemala may be relevant to understand the sacrificial symbolism of cacao throughout Mesoamerica.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Fall 2016 , pp. 361 - 375
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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