Cerro Sechín: Understanding Ancient Andean Sacrifice

Peru’s Cerro Sechín is the creepiest place I’ve been. The outer walls of this 3000 year-old temple are covered in relief carvings of dismembered bodies, likely depicting human sacrifice. I was initially reluctant to share much about this place because of the dark subject matter. There was something eerie about being where these rituals occurred, so central to their belief system that they constructed this monument and carved these scenes into stone. But this site does still hold important anthropologic value, providing vivid insight into early Andean religion. What was their worldview that gave rise to this practice?

Before delving into the interpretation, some background is necessary. Cerro Sechín dates to 1600 BCE, during the Initial Period, between the time of the Caral-Supe (Pre-Pottery Period) and Chavín cultures (Early Horizon Period). While some limited evidence of sacrifice exists at earlier sites (Solís / Shady, 2006), Cerro Sechín appears to mark a phase where this practice was becoming a fundamental aspect of Andean religion.

The temple sits near the Sechín branch of the Casma River Valley, a narrow strip of fertile farmland slicing through the arid desert of Peru’s northern coast. It was constructed during a time when large religious monuments were proliferating in the region (Moseley, 1992). The site is part of the broader Sechín archeological complex of the Casma–Sechin culture, which also includes Las Haldas (1800–1000 BCE), Moxeke (1800-900 BCE), Sechín Alto (2000-1500 BCE) and Sechín Bajo (3500-1300 BCE), which is one of the earliest monument sites in Peru.

The main temple of Cerro Sechín is among the first sites to primarily use large stones in its construction, helping to demonstrate the gradual development of megalithic masonry within the Andes. Parts of the wall have been reconstructed, as many of the stones were found scattered throughout the site. However, 200 of the 300 carved stones were found in situ (Salt, 2017). The walls were built with rough-fitted polygonal masonry on the front and back, joint with clay mortar, packed with loose infill, and angled slightly inward for better stability. The largest of these stones are about 9 feet tall. A massive effort would have been involved in hauling these megaliths. Group construction of temples like this might have been an act of religious devotion, orchestrated by a theocratic elite (as is commonly believed with other early Andean monument sites).

Ascending the stairs of the temple, one would have encountered two large murals of felines. Although the upper parts of these paintings have been lost, the clawed feet remained intact. These closely resemble a feline carving from nearby Mesapatac during roughly the same time period. This may represent the early emergence of the ‘Cult of the Feline’, more commonly associated with the subsequent Chavín de Huantar (Oneeglio & Mejía, 2014).

There are two main hypotheses as to what the dismembered bodies carved upon these stones represent. The first is that it is commemorating some war or ritualized combat. While such conflict would have been bloody, that wouldn’t fully explain the number of decapitated heads and other separated body parts shown here. The typical weapons of coastal Peruvian cultures—clubs, atlatls, and slings—would not have inflicted this type of damage. None of those would separate heads from bodies or cut bodies in two. Nor are there any carvings of these warriors fighting their enemies.

The second hypothesis is that these scenes symbolize ritualized human sacrifice. Here the standing figures may represent officiating priests or dignitaries (Oneeglio & Mejía, 2014). Based on a broader understanding of Andean culture, this explanation is far more likely. This may have still occurred during the aftermath of combat. Numerous archaeological sites in Peru have revealed evidence of sacrifice. This practice spans thousands of years, including the Caral-Supe, Chavín, Paracas, Nazca, Cupisnique, Moche, Chimú, Wari, and Inca cultures (Benson & Cook, 2001).

More specifically, decapitated heads, such as those seen on the walls of Cerro Sechín, are frequently seen in religious contexts of other Andean cultures. In Moche pottery, the Decapitator deity is a recurring theme, shown severing a victim's head with a circular Tumi knife. Deities depicted in Nazca art are often shown in conjunction with severed heads, suggesting that they were used as sacrificial offerings. And Nazca burials frequently contained trophy heads captured in battle, with ropes looped through holes in their foreheads. One interpretation is that these sacrifices were believed to carry a spiritual lifeforce to help in the captor’s transition into the afterlife.

There are also numerous early Spanish historical accounts from the 1500s referencing the practice of human sacrifice (Cieza de Leon; Cobo; Betanzos; Ayala; Murúa). In Inca oral history, they sought to capture their enemies alive during battle, because the living were more valuable as sacrificial offerings to their deities (Cieza de Leon, 1554). Incan historians, who recounted their history to the Spanish, also told of how numerous sacrifices would be made at important events, such as the death or coronation of their rulers. When Pachacuti became king, it is said that one thousand were sacrificed to ensure the success of his reign. Large sacrificial stones are found at numerous sites, including Machu Picchu.

Early chroniclers Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and Friar Martín de Murúa provided numerous drawings showing how offerings would be made at their ‘huacas’ (a sacred place or altars). Offerings of food and chicha (corn alcohol), and animal sacrifices of llamas and guinea pigs seem to have been the most common sacrifice within Inca culture. Since this practice was still part of the culture during the Spanish conquest, with firsthand accounts documented, we have some clues about the motivation behind this practice of human sacrifice. Each of these altar sites was typically associated with a specific deity or oracle. A Spanish court case from the 1600s records a native man speaking of the need to “feeding the huacas” with sacrifices (Benson & Cook, 2001).

Living in the Sechín region’s arid desert would have been a challenging environment. Farmland was scarce, and El Niño flooding was common, stripping away topsoil and damaging crops. These extreme weather events, which natives traditionally associated with angry deities, may have been the ideological basis of these sacrifices. The excavation of one Chimú site revealed over 140 children and 200 llamas in stratigraphic layers associated with an El Niño flood event (Prieto et al., 2019). The last documented instance of human sacrifice within Peru occurred in the early 1900s in the highlands near Cusco, when a man attempted to save his village from catastrophic flooding by hurling himself off a bridge.

The thinking behind this behavior should not be seen simply as cruelty for its own sake. Instead, it was likely a superstitious attempt to appease what they believed were vengeful Gods, with offerings intended to ensure better conditions for their people. It likely began as an act of desperation as their crops and livelihoods were being destroyed. It was the logical extension from having a belief system which attributed natural disasters to the will of supernatural beings. Rather than being seen as victims, those who were sacrificed were often regarded as heroic, with the belief that they transitioned to a better existence in the afterlife (Cieza de Leon, 1554).

This is a sensitive subject for some. There are those who would prefer to not acknowledge this part of the region’s past because they hold a more romanticized view of pre-Columbian indigenous people. Others in the tourism industry might simply want to avoid focusing on the practice of human sacrifice, preferring instead to highlight the more positive aspects of Peru’s history. Instead of viewing this culture solely from a modern belief system, we should remember that sacrifice was a central part of Old World religion throughout this same period. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, for example, all similarly engaged in both animal and human sacrifice.

In the Bible’s Old Testament, there are numerous references to sacrifices made to the Judeo-Christian God. In Genesis, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac (Genesis 22:2), and within Exodus, commanded the Israelites to sacrifice to Him their firstborn sons (Exodus 22:29). The central premise of the New Testament is also that Jesus was sacrificed to God for our sins. Fortunately, within the Christian worldview, his was the last sacrifice that was needed. The Spaniards broadly viewed Andean religion as heresy against their understanding of God. And so, with the violent introduction of Catholicism into Latin America, this ancient practice of human sacrifice eventually came to an end.