6,000-year-old Temple Discovered; Sacrificial Altars Hint Animal Offerings?

Archaeologists have recently unearthed a 6,000-year old temple in Ukraine. But that is just half the story.

What's more interesting in the newly-discovered temple is the fact that it may have been used before as site for ritual animal sacrifices, reveals The Week.

Fox News reported that when the temple was discovered inside a massive prehistoric settlement, human-like figurines and remains of sacrificed animals were also found inside.

The figurines and animal remains were discovered in the courtyard of the 197 x 66 feet two-story temple made of wood and clay. There are also five rooms in the upper floor, details The Week.

Archaeologists Nataliya Burdo and Mykhailo Videiko from the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine believe that the temple was built even before writing existed, notes the Fox News report.

The Ukrainian archaeologists made a presentation of their discovery during the annual meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA). The EAA held its 2014 annual meeting in Istanbul, Turkey on September 2-5.

Altars for Offerings

Remains of eight clay platforms - seven on the ground floor and one on the upper floor -- were also found inside the temple, strongly suggesting that it may have been used as altars previously, Fox News cited.

Fox News also disclosed that the Ukrainian researchers saw that the courtyard was full of animal bones and pottery fragments upon discovery.

"The upper floor platform contains numerous burnt bones of lamb, associated with sacrifices. The walls of all five rooms on the upper floor were decorated by red paint, which exuded a ceremonial atmosphere," wrote Burdo and Videiko in their report that was published in the journal of the National Museum of Moldova called Tyragetia.

An additional report on the newly-discovered temple was also posted in journal Antiquity, reports The Week.

The Ukrainian archaeologists noted that when the massive prehistoric settlement was abandoned, its structures including the newly-discovered temple were burned down.

Fragments of human-like figurines as well as ornaments made of bones and gold were also discovered in the temple. The researchers believe that the less-than-an-inch gold ornaments may have been worn on the hair, Fox News cited.

The Fox News report also detailed that the temple was first detected in 2009 in a prehistoric settlement near modern-day Nebelivka. Using geophysical survey, a recent study deduced that the prehistoric settlement measures 588 acres. It was also discovered to contain 1,200 buildings and nearly 50 streets in it.

Similar-sized prehistoric sites have also been discovered previously in Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe, the report noted.