human sacrifices

19 Stories

Bodies Dumped in Bogs Over 7K Years Reveal a Nasty End

Signs of violence, including 'overkilling,' found in first comprehensive study of bog bodies

(Newser) - Ancient bodies pulled from bogs are often so well preserved, they could pass for modern-day murder victims . And they're often murder victims. A new study covering 7,000 years of history across the New Stone, Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages finds most human remains discovered naturally mummified in bogs—...

Seeds in Bog Man's Last Meal Could Be a Clue
Seeds in Bog Man's
Last Meal Could Be a Clue
new study
Jul 21, 2021 1:18 PM CDT

Seeds in Bog Man's Last Meal Could Be a Clue

The long-running question: were bog men human sacrifices?

(Newser) - Seeds of pale persicaria may be a clue in a mystery: whether the so-called Tollund Man, found in 1950 in a bog in Denmark, was executed or sacrificed. A new study suggests it could be the latter, and those seeds are the reason why. As NBC News reports, the man'...

As Far as Child Sacrifices Go, This Could Be the Biggest

227 bodies found in Peru

(Newser) - It's a grim and possibly record-setting find in Peru: what archaeologists say could be the biggest single mass child sacrifice ever found. The current body count is 227, and that number could grow as archaeologists continue to work the site, which is near the seaside town of Huanchaco in...

Theory Pushed in Largest Mass Sacrifice of Children

The slaughter may have been to appease the gods after a deluge

(Newser) - Archaeologists last year described it as the largest known mass child sacrifice anywhere in the world: 140 children and 200 llamas slaughtered around AD 1450 on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Chimu state—what is now northern Peru. At the time, archaeologists had a theory about why...

This Might've Been the Largest Child Sacrifice Ever

Remains of 140 children, 200 young llamas found in Peru

(Newser) - Decades before it was felled by the larger Inca civilization around 1475 AD, the Chimu people in what is now northern Peru gathered more than 140 children on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and slaughtered them all. Archaeologists who've uncovered the remains of boys, girls, and 200 young...

Someone Filmed a Fake Human Sacrifice at CERN

Esteemed Euro physics lab trying to figure out who staged creepy 'spoof'

(Newser) - "Prankster" may not be the first word that comes to mind when describing a scientist, but a group of them at Switzerland's European Organization for Nuclear Research (aka CERN) may have just elevated the term in an odd and creepy way. The Guardian reports the research organization is...

Bones May Belong to Teen Sacrificed to Zeus

Giving credence to legends of human sacrifices in ancient Greece

(Newser) - An ancient legend tells of a man sneaking a human boy into an animal sacrifice to Zeus on Greece's Mount Lykaion and being turned into a wolf as punishment, the Washington Post reports. But despite Plato and others writing about ongoing human sacrifices, archaeologists have never been able to...

Aztec Site Reveals Grisly Fate of Captured Spaniards

Horses and people were eaten, but not pigs

(Newser) - Excavations at the site of one of the Spanish conquistadors' worst defeats in Mexico are yielding new evidence about what happened when the two cultures clashed—and the native Mexicans were in control. Faced with strange invaders accompanied by unknown animal species, the inhabitants of an Aztec-allied town east of...

Dig Reveals Mass Sacrifice of Kids, Llamas

At least 42 children, 76 llamas killed in possible offering to the sea

(Newser) - Physical anthropologist John Verano has seen plenty while working in Peru over the last 30 years. What he came across this summer in the village of Huanchaquito, however, is "not what we've seen before, especially on the coast," he says. Locals noticed bones poking out of a...

Subway Diggers Find Weird Sacrifice in Mexico

Dog was on Aztec skull rack alongside humans

(Newser) - Digging deep under a city as ancient as Mexico City is bound to turn up surprises, and archaeologists have found one that changes their understanding of Aztec human sacrifice. Excavations for an extension of the city's subway system turned up the remains of numerous sacrifices, including the skull of...

Archaeologists Make Grisly Find in China
 Archaeologists 
 Make Grisly 
 Find in China 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 7, 2013 9:20 AM CST

Archaeologists Make Grisly Find in China

Skulls of 80 sacrificed young women unearthed

(Newser) - A mass grave holding the skulls of 80 young women has been found in China, state media today reported, and the details only get grislier from there. Archaeologists believe the women may have been sacrificed as many as 4,000 years ago, perhaps as part of "foundation ceremonies" that...

Incas Drugged Child-Sacrifice Victims First
 Incas Drugged 
 Child-Sacrifice 
 Victims First 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 4, 2013 10:17 AM CDT

Incas Drugged Child-Sacrifice Victims First

Hair samples from 3 mummies show alcohol, cocaine

(Newser) - About the best that can be said about three children killed by the Incas in a sacrifice ritual 500 years ago is that they might not have felt a thing. New analysis of hair samples from the mummies found near the summit of a volcano in Argentina show that they...

Women Save Boy From Being Sacrificed in Cemetery

Jaymisha Pires, Corey Granberry hailed for stepping in

(Newser) - Jaymisha Pires and Corey Granberry, both 21, were visiting the San Diego grave of Granberry's godson on Saturday when they saw a woman with her clothes covered in blood asking for help. She led them to her husband, 30-year-old Joseph Ramirez, who was allegedly holding their three children hostage...

Police Arrest Farmers for Child Sacrifice

Indian men killed girl to appease gods: police

(Newser) - Two men have been arrested in central India for allegedly killing a 7-year-old girl and cutting out her liver in a ritual sacrifice to ensure a better harvest, police said today. Lalita Tati disappeared in October and her dismembered remains were found a week later, said Rajendra Narayan Das, a...

Eerily Preserved Tomb Yields Maya King

Royal ringed by dead babies, evidence of human sacrifice

(Newser) - Archeologists believe they have unearthed one of the only tombs ever discovered of a founder of a Mayan dynasty. Whoever the man in the extraordinarily well-preserved 1,600-year-old Guatemalan tomb is, he tried to take a lot with him to the afterlife, the Los Angeles Times reports. The tomb under...

Ritual Sacrifice of Children on Rise in Uganda

Mutilated bodies likely victims of ceremonial murder

(Newser) - Ugandan police don't know who killed Caroline Aya, but they think they know why she was killed. The eight-year-old was found with her tongue cut out, a likely sign that she had been used in a ritual killing designed to bring wealth or happiness. The practice of human sacrifice is...

Ugandan Child Murders Linked to Witch Doctors

US-backed task force struggles to quell brutal surge

(Newser) - Ritual murders and kidnappings continue to haunt Uganda despite police efforts to battle the horrors, the Guardian reports. Often linked to organ trafficking and witch doctors, some 300 cases were reported last year, and only 18 taken to court. A US-backed task force started this year has failed to stem...

Dozens of Sacrificed Girls Found at Inca Site

(Newser) - Dozens of carefully buried human sacrifices have been found in a coastal Inca site in Peru, reports the Telegraph. Most of the dead are teenage girls, and one appears to have been pregnant. The bodies, which still contain skin and hair, all bear signs of knife slashes along the neck....

Mayans Sacrificed Boys—Not Virgin Girls

Mexican archaeologist brings up surprising new evidence

(Newser) - The human sacrifices offered up to the Mayan gods in Pre-Columbian Mexico were likely boys and young men, not virgin girls, Reuters reports. A Mexican archaeologist has ventured into the sacred sinkholes of Chichen Itza to recover bones from 127 bodies, and discovered that more than 80% of them came...

19 Stories
Popular on Newser
We use cookies. By Clicking "OK" or any content on this site, you agree to allow cookies to be placed. Read more in our privacy policy.