Editing Child sacrifice (section)

==Pre-Columbian cultures==
{{Main|Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures}}

Archaeologists have found the remains of more than 140 children who were sacrificed in Peru's northern coastal region.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43928277|title=Peru child sacrifice discovery may be largest in history|work=BBC News|date=28 April 2018}}</ref>

===Aztec culture===
[[File:Aztec ritual for flooding.jpg|thumb|250 px| 1499, the [[Aztecs]] performing child sacrifice to appease the angry gods who had flooded [[Tenochtitlan]]]]
The [[Aztecs]] are well known for their ritualistic [[human sacrifice]] as offerings to gods with the goal of restoring cosmological balance. While the demographic of people chosen to sacrifice remains unclear, there is evidence that victims were mostly warriors captured in battle and slaves in the slave trade.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moreiras Reynaga |first1=Diana K. |last2=Millaire |first2=Jean-François |last3=Chávez Balderas |first3=Ximena |last4=Román Berrelleza |first4=Juan A. |last5=López Luján |first5=Leonardo |last6=Longstaffe |first6=Fred J. |date=2021-06-01 |title=Residential patterns of Mexica human sacrifices at Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Mexico-Tlatelolco: Evidence from phosphate oxygen isotopes |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416521000295 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=62 |pages=101296 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101296 |s2cid=234822862 |issn=0278-4165}}</ref> Human sacrifice was not limited to adults, however; 16th century Spanish codices chronicled child sacrifice to Aztec rain gods.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=de la Cruz |first1=Isabel |last2=González-Oliver |first2=Angélica |last3=Kemp |first3=Brian M. |last4=Román |first4=Juan A. |last5=Smith |first5=David Glenn |last6=Torre-Blanco |first6=Alfonso |date=2008 |title=Sex Identification of Children Sacrificed to the Ancient Aztec Rain Gods in Tlatelolco |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587642 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=519–526 |doi=10.1086/587642 |jstor=10.1086/587642 |s2cid=162519111 |issn=0011-3204}}</ref> In 2008, [[archaeologists]] found and excavated 43 victims of Aztec sacrifice, 37 of which were children.<ref name=":2" /> The sacrificial victims were found by Temple R, a temple in [[Tlatelolco (archaeological site)|Tlatelolco]], the ancient Aztec city which is now [[Mexico City]]. Temple R was dedicated to the Aztec rain gods, including [[Tlāloc]], [[Ehecatl]], [[Quetzalcoatl]], and [[Huītzilōpōchtli]].<ref name=":2" /> A majority (66%) of the excavated subadults were under 3 years old, and 32 subadults as well as 6 adults were identified as male, although the sex determination results could be replicated only for 26 of the 38 individuals.<ref name=":2" />

It is hypothesized that this specific child sacrifice took place during the great drought and famine of 1454–1457, furthering the theory that Aztecs utilized human sacrifice to placate the gods.<ref name=":2" /> Osteological and dental pathological evidence shows that many of the child sacrificial victims had varying health issues, and it is suggested that the Tlaloques selected these children who had medical ailments.<ref name=":2" /> Because sacrificial victims typically embodied the gods they were being sacrificed to, male child sacrifices were more present at this site due to the masculine nature of the Aztec rain gods.<ref name=":2" />

===Inca culture===
The [[Inca]] culture sacrificed children in a ritual called ''[[qhapaq hucha]]''. Their frozen corpses have been discovered in the [[South America]]n mountaintops. The first of these corpses, a female child who had died from a blow to the skull, was discovered in 1995 by Johan Reinhard.<ref>http://gallery.sjsu.edu/sacrifice/precolumbian.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519021943/http://gallery.sjsu.edu/sacrifice/precolumbian.html |date=19 May 2006 }} - "Pre-Columbian Andean Sacrifices"</ref> Other methods of sacrifice included [[strangulation]] and simply leaving the children, who had been given an intoxicating drink, to lose consciousness in the extreme cold and low-oxygen conditions of the mountaintop, and to die of [[hypothermia]].

=== Maya culture ===
In [[Maya civilization|Maya]] culture, people believed that supernatural beings had power over their lives and this is one reason that child sacrifice occurred.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya|last=Scherer|first=Andrew|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2012}}</ref> The sacrifices were essentially to satisfy the supernatural beings. This was done through ''k'ex'', which is an exchange or substitution of something.<ref name=":0" /> Through ''k'ex'' infants would substitute more powerful humans.<ref name=":0" /> It was thought that supernatural beings would consume the souls of more powerful humans and infants were substituted in order to prevent that.<ref name=":0" /> Infants are believed to be good offerings because they have a close connection to the spirit world through [[liminality]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Ardren|first=Traci|date=2015|title=Burial and the Social Imaginary of Childhood|journal=Social Identities in the Classic Maya Northern Lowlands: Gender, Age, Memory, and Place|doi=10.7560/768116-005 |s2cid=240099439 }}</ref> It is also believed that parents in Maya culture would offer their children for sacrifice and depictions of this show that this was a very emotional time for the parents, but they would carry through because they thought the child would continue existing.<ref name=":1" /> It is also known that infant sacrifices occurred at certain times. Child sacrifice was preferred when there was a time of crisis and transitional times such as famine and drought.<ref name=":0" />

There is archaeological evidence of infant sacrifice in tombs where the infant has been buried in urns or ceramic vessels. There have also been depictions of child sacrifice in art. Some art includes pottery and [[stele]]s as well as references to infant sacrifice in mythology and art depictions of the mythology.

===Moche culture===
[[File:Carte Moche.png|thumb|Peru- Moche Culture Region]]
The [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] of northern [[Peru]] practiced mass sacrifices of men and boys.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20080506113520/http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 – [[Discovery Channel - Archive.org]] article</ref> Archeologists found the remains of 137 children and 3 adults, along with 200 camelids, during excavations in 2011, 2014 and 2016, beneath the sands of a 15th-century site called Huanchaquito-Las Llamas. This sacrifice was possibly made during the heavy rains as there was a layer of mud on top of the clean sand.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fleur |first=Nicholas St |date=2019-03-06 |title=Massacre of Children in Peru Might Have Been a Sacrifice to Stop Bad Weather |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/science/peru-child-sacrifice.html |access-date=2022-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hundreds of children and llamas sacrificed in a ritual event in 15th century Peru: The largest sacrifice of its kind known from the Americas was associated with heavy rainfall and flooding |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306142902.htm |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prieto |first1=Gabriel |last2=Verano |first2=John W. |last3=Goepfert |first3=Nicolas |last4=Kennett |first4=Douglas |last5=Quilter |first5=Jeffrey |last6=LeBlanc |first6=Steven |last7=Fehren-Schmitz |first7=Lars |last8=Forst |first8=Jannine |last9=Lund |first9=Mellisa |last10=Dement |first10=Brittany |last11=Dufour |first11=Elise |date=2019-03-06 |title=A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e0211691 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0211691 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6402755 |pmid=30840642|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1411691P |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Timoto-Cuica culture===
The [[Timoto-Cuicas]] offered human sacrifices. Until colonial times children sacrifice persisted secretly in [[Laguna de Urao]] ([[Mérida (state)|Mérida]]). It was described by the chronicler [[Juan de Castellanos]], who cited that feasts and human sacrifices were done in honour of [[Icaque]], an Andean prehispanic goddess.<ref>http://www.saber.ula.ve/bitstream/123456789/18495/1/articulo3.pdf De los timoto-cuicas a la invisibilidad del indigena andino y a su diversidad cultural</ref><ref>http://issuu.com/bnahem/docs/revista_digital_timoto_cuicas Timoto-Cuicas</ref>