ANCIENT GREECE: "SHOCKING" DISMEMBERED HUMAN SKULL REVEALS LONG-DEBATED RITUAL SACRIFICE OF VIRGINS

BY KASTALIA MEDRANO ON 12/21/17 AT 2:11 PM

In ancient times, the inhabitants of the Greek island of Crete practiced human sacrifice to appease gods whom they believed threatened them with earthquakes. In a December 20 lecture at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, archaeologist and lead excavator Maria Vlazaki-Andreadaki addressed the evidence of ritual sacrifice that occured at the ancient palace of Kydonia, located on a hilltop on Crete.

Vlazaki-Andreadaki explained that a “great disaster”—which per calculations from the Technical University of Crete corresponds to an earthquake around 6.5 to 7.5 on the Richter scale—prompted the ancient Kydonians to perform human sacrifice to appease the deities they thought were responsible, according to Archaeology News Network. In addition to various animal skulls, Vlazaki-Andreadaki and her colleagues discovered the skull of a young girl that had been “cut up” by a sword in an incredibly precise manner.

“It is a shocking image,” she told the audience, according to Archaeology News Network.

Vlazaki-Andreadaki and her colleagues constructed the following timeline of events, according to Archaeology News Network: First, an earthquake struck, on the heels of which came a massive fire. To appease the demons and "chthonic powers"—deities from the underworld—43 sheep and goats, four pigs, one ox and one human female were sacrificed in the palace. Then came the earthquake’s aftershock, which destroyed everything that hadn’t been annihilated by the initial quake, though at least there was no second fire.

More:
http://www.newsweek.com/ancient-greece-shocking-dismembered-human-skull-reveals-ritual-sacrifice-755549?piano_t=1