Archaeologists discover evidence of grisly child sacrifice in Europe

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published 20 April 2015

In the ruins of an ancient city in southwest Bulgaria, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of two children who appear to have been ritualistically butchered 2,700 years ago.

The city was Thracian, a collection of ancient tribes in present-day Bulgaria noted for their expert craftsmen and resistance to Greek, Persian, and Roman invaders. Its ruins are pockmarked with at least 20 pits where religious sacrifices — humans, animals, or objects — were made, Ancient Origins reports.

Not too much is known about the children that the archaeologists found, but they appear to have been crushed to death by stones. In addition to finding the victim's skulls, the researchers also turned up one shoulder bone and "several stones that are believed to have been used in the human sacrifice ritual," the blog Archaeology in Bulgaria notes.