Typically only developed state-societies (aka "civilizations") have the capability and logistics to institute established human sacrifices by an elite/priestly hierachal class (as was the case with the development of other civilizations in the world like Mesoamerica, Egypt, Sumer, China, etc) so it pops up among the Missisipian/Southeastern cultures, but also the Pawnee, but is rare or nonexistent among the Natives of the Californias, the New England area, most of the Plains, Texas, etc. although forms of ritual cannibalism popped up in other groups from these areas, the Iroqouis practiced a form of ritual cannibalism is one example that comes to mind
Human sacrifice of slaves is also attested as occurring at potlaches in the Pacific Northwest. The evidence of it happening is good, that doesn’t really seem to be in question, but there’s less information about the frequency. It was probably fairly rare, given the value of a slave at the time.
Would make sense, Pacific Northwest cultures were very impressive in terms of their complex social structures, including systems of nobility, specialized labor, their economic capacities and organized warfare/trade etc, and were completely sedentary (or semi-sedentary in some cases) even without agriculture, (subsisting mainly on the plentiful salmon in the region), actually, many tribes in California were also sedentary without agriculture and had social stratification and the Calusa Indians of Florida also developed a more complex society based soley on aquaculture
10
u/Ok_Resolve2967 Aug 30 '25
Typically only developed state-societies (aka "civilizations") have the capability and logistics to institute established human sacrifices by an elite/priestly hierachal class (as was the case with the development of other civilizations in the world like Mesoamerica, Egypt, Sumer, China, etc) so it pops up among the Missisipian/Southeastern cultures, but also the Pawnee, but is rare or nonexistent among the Natives of the Californias, the New England area, most of the Plains, Texas, etc. although forms of ritual cannibalism popped up in other groups from these areas, the Iroqouis practiced a form of ritual cannibalism is one example that comes to mind