Researchers find 6000-year-old temple for sacrifices in Ukraine

Archaeologists have discovered a 6,000 year old temple in Ukraine that hosted regular ritual animal sacrifices, according to a new study.

After a number of digs, researchers found scores of animal bones scattered among temple’s ruins and an altar where the animals may have been sacrificed.

Nataliya Burdo and Mykhailo Videiko, from the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, recently presented the archaeologists’ findings at the European Association of Archaeologists’ annual meeting in Turkey. The discovery is published in the journal Tyragetia, and an additional report on the site is published in the journal Antiquity.

The temple, which was found near modern-day Nebelivka, included eight clay platforms, which the archaeologists posit were used as sacrificial altars — one of the platforms contained burnt lamb bones. The researchers believe the temple belonged to the “Trypillian” culture, a modern name given to the culture of Ukraine’s Trypillia village. Like other Trypillian sites, the temple was burned down with the rest of the settlement when it was abandoned.

Agencies/Canadajournal