Mayan Civilization of Human Sacrifice (Essay Sample)

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Mayan Civilization of Human Sacrifice.
Introduction.
Social complexity refers to those practices that define the human existence regarding how the people relate to one another and also nature. This covers their certain beliefs which governors how their respond to the environment. It is a broad subject and includes the migration patterns, political structure and the way people deal with natural calamities. These named factors affect the trajectory which the culture takes and also can influence the development regarding industrialization and civilization. One of the first elements that were in existence to the people of Maya community was the offering of human sacrifices. This community lived in the present day parts of South America commonly called the Mesoamerica. The practice of human sacrifice during the Mayan civilization greatly influenced the culture of the community concerning their development advancement in warfare and industrialization.
Mayan civilization took place I today part of Mexico and some part of Guatemala. Also, the western part of Honduras and El Salvador was affected by this process. The civilization was taking place in the 2000BC and greatly influenced the growth of agriculture. The human sacrifice was a ritual that was performed then to as an offering to the gods. The view of blood as one of the effective and most nourishing diet influenced the choice of offering blood to gods (Lawrence). The gods were highly esteemed in this community and in the case of considering an offering the best gift would be considered. Based on these two factors namely the treasuring of gods and valuing of blood, the human blood was highly valuable to fit this purpose. During the performance of this ritual, there were various methods that were employed to achieve the human blood. The processes were delicate and required a lot of preparation. It is this importantly viewed ritual; the Maya community found itself in the course of making substantial strides towards the civilization.
The primary method that was used in the context of obtaining the human blood was decapitation. This process used to take place whenever there was a major event taking place in the Maya community. The main effects that would evoke decapitation were when launching a major project in the building sector or during the process of enthroning a new ruler. These processes were highly valued and thus the need to find the best possible offering to gods. The human sacrifice would be seen fit to the occasion. During the process, a ruler of another kingdom would be captured and used as a human sacrifice. This was any ruler who was deemed as an enemy. Once obtained and used in the decapitation process, the process would be recorded in the Maya script (Schele). Since the process would only take place during a major event, the continued occurrence of these developments ensured that the community was advancing. Also, when capturing a foreign king, the city ought to have a very strong army. This would ensure the civilization was improving by the continued performance of the process. Also, an advancement regarding writing was made since the entire process was written. The preserving of this process was thus advancing the development of civilization.
Another method that was involved in human sacrifice was heart removal or extraction. The procedure usually took place in the temple. There was four attendant would be required to stand in the four directions. These were meant to represent the four cardinal directions of the heart. A particular kind of the knife was used to remove the heart from the body of the victim. This knife was known as the nacom. It was made from the ribs of the person whose heart was the subject (Sharer). The person whose heart was removed was often a very courageous warrior. The use of a special knife and the entire process of organ removal which took very special procedure helped the Maya community to advance their civilization regarding the human body. Also, the fact that at that time they had started to identify that the heart has four sides shows how the process was advancing their knowledge on the human. This whole process helped the society in the growth of their civilization.
The use of arrows was another dominant method applied in human sacrifice in the Mayan culture. Once the sacrificial person was identified, they were killed with special treated arrows and bows. The person to be offered to the gods would be managed to meet certain conditions. These conditions were painting of blue and been stripped. Also, the individual would be made to wear a peaked cap. There was a place in the chest which was marked with a white color. This was used to show the place where the heart was. Those who were killing by the use of arrows were supposed to target the marked white region. The archers who were expected to shoot the victim were forced to dance around the victim and would shoot aiming at the white spot (Schele). This process was repeated till the whole chest region was covered with the arrows. The songs that were sung during the ceremony have been recorded to present time as poems like the Little Arrow. These songs were used to encourage the victim to remain high as the shooting was in progress. This process can be attributed to the continued advancement of the civiliz