Body Modification in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Cultures

This overview will highlight the region of Mesoamerica in what is today Southern Mexico and Guatemala. This lecture examines the techniques and motivations for the religious and social customs of altering the body through piercing, tattooing, bloodletting, amputation, human sacrifice, cranial shaping, dental inlays, etc. We will compare the practices from the ancient civilizations of Olmec, Oaxaca, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Haustec, Mixtec with a particular focus on the Mayan and the Aztec.

~3 hours
by: Paul King