Sacred Killing : The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East

What is sacrifice? How can we identify it in the archaeological record? And what does it tell us about the societies that practice it? Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East investigates these and other questions through the evidence for human and animal sacrifice in the Near East from the Neolithic to the Hellenistic periods. Drawing on sociocultural anthropology and history in addition to archaeology, the book also includes evidence from ancient China and a riveting eyewitness account and analysis of sacrifice in contemporary India, which engage some of the key issues at stake. Sacred Killing vividly presents a variety of methods and theories in the study of one of the most profound and disturbing ritual activities humans have ever practiced. Archaeology And Sacrifice / Glenn M. Schwartz -- On Cakti-filled Bodies And Divinities : An Ethnographic Perspective On Animal Sacrifice And Ritual In Contemporary South India, With An Introduction By Anne Porter / Gillian Goslinga -- Socio-political Implications Of Neolithic Foundation Deposits And The Possibility Of Child Sacrifice : A Case Study At Catalhoeyuek, Turkey / Sharon Moses -- Hunting Sacrifice At Neolithic Catalhoeyuek / Nerissa Russell -- On Human And Animal Sacrifice In The Late Neolithic At Domuztepe / Elizabeth Carter -- Bludgeoned, Burned, And Beautified : Reevaluating Mortuary Practices In The Royal Cemetery Of Ur / Aubrey Baadsgaard, Janet Monge, And Richard L. Zettler -- Restoring Order : Death, Display, And Authority / Jill A. Weber -- Mortal Mirrors : Creating Kin Through Human Sacrifice In Third Millennium Syro-mesopotamia / Anne Porter -- Scripts Of Animal Sacrifice In Levantine Culture-history / Brian Hesse, Paula Wapnish, And Jonathan Greer -- Human And Animal Sacrifice At Galatian Gordion : The Uses Of Ritual In A Multi-ethnic Community / Mary M. Voigt -- Sacrifice In The Ancient Near East : Offering And Ritual Killing / Beate Pongratz-leisten -- On Sacrifice : An Archaeology Of Shang Sacrifice / Roderick Campbell. Edited By Anne M. Porter And Glenn M. Schwartz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.