How human sacrifice propped up the social order

https://www.nature.com/news/how-human-sacrifice-propped-up-the-social-order-1.19681

In almost all societies, killing within a tribe or clan has been strongly taboo; exemption is granted only to those with great authority.

Anthropologists have suspected that ritual human sacrifice serves to cement power structures — that is, it signifies who sits at the top of the social hierarchy.

Human sacrifice seems to bolster stratification: It helped to stabilize hierarchy, and conceivably, therefore, had a common role in the development of highly stratified societies that generally persist even today.

Sanctified killing reinforces the social order

Sacrifice wasn't always conducted for purely religious reasons.

It could have other motivations, including to punish taboo violations, demoralize underclasses, mark class boundaries and instil fear of social elites, all of which aim at building and maintaining social control.

By today’s standards, human sacrifice scarcely seems to fall within the norms of good morality.

But one doesn’t need to be a moral relativist to accept that the connections between human sacrifice, obedience to authority and stable governance persist.

Unlike today’s death penalties, traditional ritual sacrifice was generally for religious purposes and it tended to exhibit no bloodlust or contempt for the victims.

Often they were seen as godlike, and before their sacrifice, they might be treated with reverence and affection, and perhaps fed well like the biblical fatted calf.

The remains of the dead body — it’s not even clear whether the word “victim” is appropriate — were imbued with power.

If the flesh was chopped up, it was to share out this potent relic among the tribe.

Ritual human sacrifice promoted and sustained the evolution of stratified societies

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17159

According to the social control hypothesis, human sacrifice legitimizes political authority and social class systems, functioning to stabilize such social stratification.

We find strong support for models in which human sacrifice stabilizes social stratification once stratification has arisen, and promotes a shift to strictly inherited class systems.