Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Sustainability and Sacrifice? How the Caral Civilization Really Faced Climate Change

 by Mary Harrsch © 2025 

After significant research on the rise of ritual violence as a response to ecological catastrophe in the ancient Americas, I must disagree with the conclusion the Caral of ancient Peru should be seen as a model for peacefulness in the midst of significant climate change as expressed in this article. It is exciting that another of their cities has been found and I am sure we will learn even more about them from its remains but trying to highlight their peacefulness simply because the city had no defensive walls and no weapons have been found in excavations ignores the finds of artwork found in Caral's other cities depicting what appears to be ritual sacrifice.

Illustration of the recently discovered ancient city of Peñico in Peru, showcasing the Caral civilization's sustainable urban planning courtesy of Sustainability Times.

At Vichama, a city occupied after the main center of Caral began to decline, during a period of increased aridity and possibly famine, friezes and sculptures tell a story of profound crisis. At the site, archaeologists uncovered polychrome clay friezes depicting a procession of human figures referred to as the "famine friezes." They depict emaciated figures, with their ribs showing, led by a powerful, larger figure (possibly a priest or ruler). The interpretation is that this graphically represents a community suffering from hunger.
Another famous frieze shows a procession of toads with human faces. In Andean cosmology, the toad is associated with water and fertility. Below this, a sculpture was found of a "decapitated" human figure with closed eyes, with what appear to be snakes (also water symbols) emerging from its head. This is strongly interpreted as a depiction of ritual sacrifice intended to appease the gods and bring back water and fertility.
At the coastal city of Áspero, another major center of the Caral culture, a discovery in 2016 added another layer. Archaeologists found the remains of two children buried at the base of a ceremonial structure. The children were not typical burials. They were placed in a flexed position, covered with clay, and located in the foundation of a temple.
This context—a foundation offering—is a known practice in the Andes (and elsewhere) where the sacrifice of a living being was believed to consecrate and give life to a building. While not conclusive proof of violent death, the context is highly suggestive of ritual sacrifice rather than a simple burial.
The lack of fortifications at the new site of Peñico suggests Caral society there likely may not have engaged in widespread, organized warfare with rival politics during its peak. Their social control may have been based on religion and trade.
However, when faced with catastrophic climate change, the ruling priestly class may have turned to ritual violence and human sacrifice as a means to maintain social order. By performing sacrifices, they were demonstrating their power to communicate with the gods and "solve" the crisis. This is a form of violence, but it is internally directed and sanctified by religion, not the same as warfare. The peaceful equilibrium of early Caral may not have been sustainable in the face of prolonged drought.
The evidence from Vichama, a later site, clearly suggests that as environmental pressures mounted, the society's practices may have become more extreme like many other cultures of ancient America.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Did Nuragic Warriors Trigger the Bronze Age Collapse?

 by Mary Harrsch © 2025

I think the Nuragic people of Sardinia may have been one group of the "Sea Peoples" who ravaged other Mediterranean cultures triggering the Bronze Age collapse. Their warrior figurines bear a striking resemblance to the depictions of the Sherden warriors (one of the key Sea Peoples tribes) in Egyptian reliefs at Medinet Habu. The Egyptians specifically show captured Sherden warriors with distinctive horned helmets. Nuragic pottery has been found at various sites associated with the Sea Peoples' destructive path, including Kommos on Crete and in the Levant. This suggests they were present in these areas during the turbulent period (c. 1200-1150 BCE).
The Nuragic culture was highly advanced in metallurgy as this article discusses, producing vast quantities of bronze weapons. Their society, centered around thousands of fortress-like stone towers (nuraghi), was clearly martial in nature and Sardinia's location made it a natural seafaring culture. They had the ships and the expertise to travel throughout the Mediterranean. https://archaeologymag.com/2025/09/sardinian-figurines-reveal-bronze-age-metal-trade/
Bronzetti of the Uta-Abini style from Sardinia: Image courtesy of D. Berger 
of Plos.One

The name "Sherden" is strongly linked to Sardinia. Linguists suggest the name "Sherden" could be the root for "Sardinia" (just as "Philistine" became "Palestine"). Ancient historians like Herodotus also recalled that Sardinia was named after a people called the "Sardoi," who were thought to have come from the east.
However, my research points to the Sea Peoples being a loosely confederated group of raiders and immigrants from a number of different regions around the Mediterranean:
Peleset (likely the Philistines, possibly from the Aegean or Anatolia)
Lukka (from Lycia in Anatolia)
Shekelesh (possibly from Sicily)
Tjekker (origin unknown)
Sherden (the group linked to Sardinia)
The Nuragic people (as the Sherden) were one part of this mix, not the whole group.
Scholars have concluded the Bronze Age collapse was a systems collapse of apocalyptic proportions. It wasn't just an invasion; it was a "perfect storm" of interconnected events:
Climate Change: Paleoclimatology data shows evidence of severe, prolonged droughts in the Eastern Mediterranean around this time, leading to famine and mass migration.
Earthquakes: Archaeological evidence suggests many cities were destroyed by earthquakes in a short period, weakening the great empires.
Internal Rebellion: The highly stratified, palace-based economies of the Hittites, Mycenaeans, and Canaanites may have collapsed under their own weight, with internal uprisings by oppressed lower classes.
Disruption of Trade: The interconnectedness of the Bronze Age world was its strength, but also its weakness. The collapse of one node (e.g., the Mycenaeans) could catastrophically disrupt the trade in tin, copper, and luxury goods for all the others.
The Nuragic culture like other Sea Peoples were likely both raiders and migrants, pushed and pulled by the wider chaos of the Bronze Age collapse. They were not the sole cause, but rather both a symptom and an accelerant of the collapse. The initial trigger was likely the climate-change-induced drought, which caused famine, mass migration, and the breakdown of the political order. Warrior groups like the Nuragic Sherden, along with others from Anatolia and the Aegean, then took advantage of this weakness to raid, settle, and ultimately help bring down the weakened empires.
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Monday, July 14, 2025

Blood and Ash: Ecological Collapse and the Rise of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Americas

 by Mary Harrsch © 2025

I've just uploaded the final version of my paper: Blood and Ash:Ecological Collapse and the Rise of Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Americas. It has 127 illustrations and I have cited 431 sources. In it I compare the response to ecological catastrophes of cultures in ancient America with those of Late Antique Rome under the reign of Justinian. I also compare their different agricultural strategies, sanitation systems, treatment of refugee populations, and contributors to infant mortality.

AI-generated image of what an Aztec priest of Huitzilopochtli may have looked like to sacrificial victims being led to Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan based on a mythological painting of the god. Produced with Adobe Firefly by the author.

You can read it here:

Here's the abstract:
This multidisciplinary study investigates the rise of human sacrifice in ancient Mesoamerica as part of a broader transformation in cosmological ideology shaped by ecological upheaval and political centralization. Drawing on archaeological, iconographic, isotopic, and ethnohistorical evidence, the paper traces the intensification of ritual violence from the resettlement of Xitle eruption refugees in the southern Basin of Mexico to the aftermath of the Ilopango eruption (ca. 536 CE) and into the militarized expansions of the Late Postclassic period. Climate shocks, resource scarcity, and elite competition reconfigured religious worldviews and leadership strategies, fueling increasingly violent expressions of sacred power.
The analysis contrasts divergent responses to catastrophe: while Late Antique Roman authorities under Justinian issued edicts to stabilize trade, secure truces, and implement public health measures following the volcanic winter triggered by eruptions at Ilopango and Iceland, Mesoamerican elites reasserted sacred authority through spectacular displays of ritual violence, including heart extractions and elite burials accompanied by human attendants.
Drawing on data from sites including Chaco Canyon, Cahokia, Tula, and Tenochtitlan, the study explores how migration, drought, and collapsing trade networks catalyzed new warrior ideologies and sacrificial practices. Particular attention is given to the possibility that displaced elites from Mississippian centers contributed to the Mexica’s (Aztecs’) disciplined martial ethos via convergence zones such as Chicomoztoc. These systems fused divine kingship with ritualized violence, transforming sacrifice into a tool of ecological negotiation and political legitimation.
It argues that cycles of drought, migration, and trade collapse fostered militarized religious orders and predatory tribute systems, with ideological rigidity and elite self-preservation ultimately fracturing indigenous societies before Spanish contact.
Acknowledgment of AI Assistance
Portions of this paper were supported by AI tools: OpenAI's ChatGPT 4o assisted with trajectory refinement, prose editing, and reference formatting; Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet contributed to argument structure; and DeepSeek-V3 aided in source identification and recommendations. All source analysis, interpretive framing, and final editorial decisions were made by the author. AI-generated images were created using Adobe Firefly (v1.0), based on prompts developed solely by the author and validated using archaeological and historical records.
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