Ancient World Review

Ancient Chinese Tombs Hold Remains Of Warriors Possibly Buried Alive

"The 3,000-year-old tombs of a wealthy clan, including the remains of warriors and warhorses that seem to have been sacrificed at their funerals, have been unearthed in an ancient capital city of China." Source: Live Science.

"The complex of 24 tombs was discovered at an archaeological site within the city of Anyang in Henan province, less than 2 miles (2.4 km) from the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site of Yinxu at the city's center. The ruins there are from the ancient city of Yin, the capital of the Shang dynasty, which ruled between about 1600 B.C. to 1046 B.C. — the earliest dynasty ever recorded in China.

"The newfound tomb complex includes several pits that hold war chariots, the remains of horses that drew them and the remains of warriors. Some of the warriors were wearing hats decorated with strings of shells when they died, while the foreheads of some of the horses were decorated with gold veneer and a bronze backing, according to a statement [Chinese language only with lots of pictures] from the government's Xinhua news agency."

Note: There is evidence that ritual suicides and voluntary live burials were conducted at this and other Shang dynasty sites:

According to a Penn State study, "A sizable portion of the oracle bones uncovered in Shang archaeological sites contain script specifically concerning human sacrifice ...These written records are also corroborated by the discovery of numerous  sacrificial mass-graves in those sites. In most Shang sacrificial rituals, only animals and valuable chattels (such as bronze wares) would be used as offerings. There were only two exceptional circumstances where human sacrifices were made: xunzang 殉葬 and renji 人祭.  Xunzang 殉葬  (lit. 'burial sacrifice') refers to the practice in which personal slaves and servants of Shang king, upon their master’s death, were expected to commit ritual suicide or to 'volunteer' themselves to be buried alive alongside with their master.  While the practice of committing ritual suicide upon the master’s death has lingered throughout Chinese history, the second type of human sacrifice, renji 人祭 (lit. 'human offering sacrifice') is practiced only during the Shang dynasty period, and also the most massive in scale in terms of number of people killed in a typical  renji ceremony."

Massive Pyramid, Lost City & Ancient Human Sacrifices Discovered In China (2018)

Video from 2018.

"A 4,300-year-old city, which has a massive step pyramid that is at least 230 feet (70 meters) high and spans 59 acres (24 hectares) at its base, has been excavated in China, archaeologists reported in the August issue of the journal Antiquity." Source: Live Science.(2018)

"The remains of numerous human sacrifices have been discovered at Shimao [the name given to the city]. 'In the outer gateway of the eastern gate on the outer rampart alone, six pits containing decapitated human heads have been found,' the archaeologists wrote."

Video from 2019.

The Dark & Bloody Rituals Of The Maya

"For a long time, it was commonly held by Mayanist [sic] experts that the 'pacific' Maya of Central America and southern Mexico did not practice human sacrifice (1). However, as more images and glyphs have come to light and been translated, it appears that the Maya frequently practiced human sacrifice in religious and political contexts." Source: Thought Company.

"Sacrifices played a vital part in Maya ritualism. Animals such as iguanas, crocodiles, turtles, dogs, peccaries, jaguars, and turkeys were occasionally sacrificed, and ... these offerings involved either whole animals -- alive, freshly killed, or cooked -- or in some cases only their hearts. But the supreme sacrifice was human life itself, and all too frequently humans were consigned to be slaughtered in the course of elaborate rituals." -- Maya, the Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization, Charles Gallenkamp, Third Revised Edition, 1985, p. 109.

(1) "The prevalent theory on the ancient Maya at the beginning of the 20th century held on to the notion that they had a predominantly peaceful society, idealizing the indigenous culture much like a noble savage. This view [was based on] poorly documented analysis of iconography and the content of Maya script." Source: Wikipedia.

Comment: The myth of the Noble Savage living a peaceful life in harmony with nature and his neighbors has the distinction of being wrong in every case that I'm aware of. It may not be the worst idea ever conceived, but it's definitely one of the most inaccurate.

Vikings Created Massive Rock Boat In Iceland Cave To Ward Off Ragnarok?

"Archaeologists have discovered the remains of rare artifacts from the Middle East in an Icelandic cave that the Vikings associated with Ragnarök, an end-times event in which the gods would be killed and the world engulfed in flames." Source: Live Science (April, 2021).

"The cave is located by a volcano that erupted almost 1,100 years ago. At the time of that eruption, the Vikings had recently colonized Iceland. 'The impacts of this eruption must have been unsettling, posing existential challenges for Iceland's newly arrived settlers,' a team of researchers wrote in a paper published recently in the Journal of Archaeological Science. 

"Archaeological work shows that after the lava cooled, the Vikings entered the cave and constructed a boat-shaped structure made out of rocks. Within this structure, the Vikings would have burned animal bones, including those of sheep, goat, cattle, horses and pigs, at high temperatures as a sacrifice. This may have been done in an effort to avert Ragnarok."

More Evidence Of Human Sacrifice Found In South Korea

"The remains of a woman believed to have been killed as a human sacrifice in her 20s as early as the 4th century have been uncovered along with a bracelet, a necklace, a vessel and animal bones, at the Wolseong Palace excavation site in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province [South Korea], the Gyeongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (GNRICH) revealed, Tuesday." Source: Korea Times.

"It is the second time that traces of what appears to be a human sacrifice have been found, following the 2017 discovery of two bodies ― a man and woman in their 50s ― some 50 centimeters away from the newly discovered skeletal remains that were uncovered in April during excavation and academic research on the western rampart. They are the first cases in Korea to be identified as possibly human sacrifice, killed in the process of building the palace between the early 4th and early 5th centuries during the early Silla period."

The Wolseong UNESCO heritage site.

Stone Circles In China's Gobi Desert May Have Been Used For Sacrifice

Video from 2015.

"Mysterious stone formations found in China's Gobi Desert may have been built thousands of years ago by sun-worshipping nomads who used them for sacrifice, a local expert has announced." Source: Archaeology News Network (2015).

"About 200 of the circular formations have been found near Turpan City in the northwestern part of the country, China Daily reported."

The Origins Of Animal Sacrifice

The origin of animal sacrifice is a mystery, but the practice dates back to prehistoric times:

"During the Neolithic Revolution, early humans began to move from hunter-gatherer cultures toward agriculture, leading to the spread of animal domestication. In a theory presented in Homo Necans, mythologist Walter Burkert suggests that the ritual sacrifice of livestock may have developed as a continuation of ancient hunting rituals, as livestock replaced wild game in the food supply." Source: Wikipedia.

"... Ancient Egypt was at the forefront of domestication, and some of the earliest archeological evidence suggesting animal sacrifice comes from Egypt. The oldest Egyptian burial sites containing animal remains originate from the Badari culture of Upper Egypt, which flourished between 4400 and 4000 BC."

Note: "References to animal sacrifice appear in the New Testament, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves (Luke 2:24) and the Apostle Paul performing a Nazirite vow even after the death of Christ." (Wikipedia) The Nazirite vows included  "three offerings: a lamb as a burnt offering (olah), a ewe as a sin-offering (hatat), and a ram as a peace offering (shelamim)..."

Animal sacrifice is still practiced in many parts of the world, including in modern Israel.

Report from 2019.

8-Ft-Tall Pagan Idol Unearthed In Irish Bog

Video from 2020.

"A 1,600-year-old pagan idol, made from a wooden pole carved from an oak tree, has been unearthed in a bog in western Ireland." Source: Live Science.

"Archaeologists say the idol dates to the very late stage of pagan Ireland, only about 100 years before the conversion of the Irish to Christianity during the mission of St. Patrick in the fifth century.

"The idol appears to have been broken in two — a common practice with sacrificial objects, perhaps signifying that it was 'dead' and could no longer be used — and deliberately deposited in the bog, maybe as a substitute for a human sacrifice or 'bog body,' according to the archaeologists."

Note: This idol was unearthed in Gortnacrannagh, a rural area in the western region of Ireland (see video above), a few miles from Rathcroghan, a complex of archaeological sites in the western region of Ireland. This was a sacred place, according to one of the archaeologists:

"'It was a sacred bog, a place that would have been special or important for several thousand years, from the late Neolithic all the way through to the early medieval period ... People came and deposited objects, like our idol, into the wetland — essentially a fen [a strip of marshy land] along a river."

Next video (2015) shows an aerial view of the Rathcroghan Mound, the central feature of the prehistoric complex.

Evidence Of Human Sacrifice Discovered At The Neolithic Site Of Shimao In China

Video from Aug. 10, 2020.

"Shimao ... is a Neolithic site in Shenmu County, Shaanxi, China. The site is located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, on the southern edge of the Ordos Desert. It is dated to around 2000 BC, near the end of the Longshan period [next video], and is the largest known walled site of that period in China, at 400 ha [app. 988 acres]. The fortifications [double stone walls] of Shimao were originally believed by to be a section of the Great Wall of China, but the discovery of jade pieces prompted an archaeological investigation." (Wikipedia)

This is a spectacular Stone-Age site. According to Archaeology World, "The digging had revealed a 230 feet high pyramid surrounded by more than six miles of protective walls and an inner sanctum containing jade artifacts, painted murals, and gruesome evidence of human sacrifice." Around 80 human skulls, mainly of young girls, were discovered buried in six pits beneath the city's eastern wall.

This isn't a recent find. According to a 2013 AFP report, the sacrifices may have been conducted as part of religious or foundation ceremonies related to the construction of the city walls:

"There may have been an outbreak of mass violence or ethnic conflict in the region at the time since 'ancient people were prone to use their enemies or captives as sacrifices...'"

Video from 2018. Shimao was discovered in 1976.

"Shimao now is the largest known Neolithic settlement in China and none of the ancient Chinese texts mentions a city residing so far north of the 'cradle of Chinese Civilization'. It had an expanse of [approximately] 1000 acres and is larger than the Central Park of New York City.  Its art and technology had influenced the northern regions and the future dynasties of China." (Archaeology World)

"Along with other discoveries at prehistoric sites, Shimao is forcing historians to rethink the origin of the Chinese civilization.

"According to the leader of the dig at Shimao, 'Shimao is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of this century.'"

Ancient Greek Ritual Animal Sacrifice

According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, there were three stages in an ancient Greek sacrifice: the preparatory stage, the kill and the treatment of the meat:

Preparatory: An animal was led to the altar, usually in a procession. The participants assembled in a circle, rinsed their hands in lustral [purifying] water, and took a handful of barley grain from a basket. Water was sprinkled on the victim to force it to 'nod' agreement to its own sacrifice. The main sacrificer (not necessarily a priest) then cut hair from the victim, put it on the altar fire, and uttered a prayer which defined the return that was desired [...] for the offering. The other participants threw forwards their barley grains.

"The kill. The victim's throat was cut with a knife; larger victims had been stunned with a blow from an axe first. Women participants raised the cry known as ololyge [shrill cry]. In Attic practice, it was important to 'bloody the altar;' small animals were held over it to be killed, the blood from larger ones was caught in a bowl and poured over it."

Treatment of the meat. There were three stages to the treatment of the meat after the sacrifice. "First the god's portion, typically the thigh bones wrapped in fat with (in Homer) small portions of meat cut 'from all the limbs' set on top, was burnt on the altar fire. Wine was poured on as it burnt. [...] Then the entrails were roasted on skewers and shared among all the participants. Finally the rest of the meat was boiled and distributed [...]; in contrast to the entrails, this boiled meat was occasionally taken away for consumption at home, though a community feast on the spot was the norm. Omens were often taken both from the burning of the god's portion and from the condition of the entrails."

Comment: Blood sacrifice, especially animal sacrifice, was an integral part of religious practice all over the ancient world. This is something that modern "neopagans" don't seem to grasp. A true pagan revival would necessarily mean a revival of these ancient rituals and it would also mean dropping all of the "belief systems" of modern paganism.

Real pagan religions, especially in the Mediterranean region, were entirely ritualistic. They weren't dogmatic or ideological. For instance, adherents didn't have to subscribe to a particular set of teachings like they do with Christianity. They didn't have to be believers to sacrifice to the gods; that's why Roman aristocrats who thought the gods were just superstitions useful for controlling the masses could serve as priests without being hypocrites.

Modern neopagans will never take the step into real paganism, however. They're too "civilized," whatever that means, so they will never advance beyond the stage of role-playing when they get together at sites like Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your point of view.

Related: How to make a sacrifice in ancient Rome.