Question

Medal
What was the role of human sacrifice in the major civilizations of Meso and South America?

Answer 1

Don't think this will be much help: Basically the idea of sacrifices were to the gods that the Meso worshiped. In the case of the Aztecs they sacrificed to a certain god (forget which one exactly) so that the sun would rise the next day. The number of sacrifices varied each day, they sacrificed captured slaves from tribes close by or their own people. I guess the 'role' of these sacrifices were to appease the gods?

Hopefully that helped you.