autosacrifice:
Autosacrifice, also called bloodletting, is the ritualized practice of drawing blood from oneself. It is commonly seen or represented through iconography as performed by ruling elites in highly ritualized ceremonies, but it was easily practiced in mundane sociocultural contexts (i.e., non-elites could perform autosacrifice). The act was typically performed with obsidian prismatic blades or stingray spines, and blood was drawn from piercing or cutting the tongue, earlobes, and/or genitals (among other locations). Another form of autosacrifice was conducted by pulling a rope with attached thorns through the tongue or earlobes. The blood produced was then collected on paper held in a bowl.
From Mesoamerica – Autosacrifice.
So it’s not what I had expected. Seen in American Archaeology:
Carved stone slabs from a building on Monte Albán’s Main Plaza show people performing autosacrifice and invoking their ancestors.
Caption to a photograph in “A Tale of Two Cities“, American Archaeology (fall 2016, p. 33, and partially available online).
