6,000-Year-Old Temple in Turkey Provides Evidence of Human and Animal Sacrifice

TADIM MOUND, TURKEY—Excavations at the site of Tadım Mound near Elaziğ in eastern Turkey have provided new information about millennia-old ritual and religious practices, the Daily Sabah reports. The 115-foot hill is currently being investigated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in coordination with the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism and the Elazığ Museum Directorate. The team recently uncovered the remains of a 6,000-year-old temple complex, the oldest structure of its kind ever unearthed in the region. The building contained a sacred hearth and four podiums on which offerings to the gods were once presented. Some of these votives, including ceramics, arrowheads, and spindle whorls, were found still strewn around the floor. Most significant, however, was the discovery of an altar where both humans and animals were sacrificed. Its top had marks left behind by repeated strikes of a knife. The altar was also connected to a “blood channel,” which drained the blood and viscera spilled during the rituals into a deep pit. To read about monuments built by hunter-gatherers in southeastern Turkey, go to "Discovering a New Neolithic World."