<![CDATA[Archaeologists have recently found animal remains and human like figurines in a 6000 year old temple in Ukraine. The temple measuring about 60 by 20 meters (197 by 66 feet) is situated in a large prehistoric settlement. The building is made of wood and clay, and surrounded by a courtyard. It has two stories, with the upper floor divided into five rooms. The findings were presented at the European Association of Archaeologists' annual meeting in Istanbul, by archaeologists Nataliya Burdo and Mykhailo Videiko. Located near the modern-day settlement of Nebelivka, the temple was first discovered in 2009. This year, the researchers used different surveying techniques to thoroughly evaluate the land, and found that the settlement containing the temple covered a total area of 588 acres - almost twice the size of the National Mall in Washington D.C. The settlement is believed to have had more than 1200 buildings and nearly 50 streets. This is not the only prehistoric settlement of this size that has been found in Europe. These kinds of settlement are said to have belonged to the Trypillian culture, named after the Ukrainian village of Trypillia where similar artefacts were first found. Much like other Trypillian culture sites, the settlement was burnt to the ground when it was abandoned. The ground floor of the building contains seven platforms and the courtyard where animal bones and pottery fragments were found. The researchers believe that these platforms may have been the altars where sacrifices took place. On the upper floor of the temple is a platform that contained burnt lamb bones. Red paint was used to decorate the floors and walls of all five rooms on the upper floor. The humanlike figurines discovered in the temple are similar in build to those found at other Trypillian sites. The distinguishing features are noses that look like beaks and unmatched eyes where one is larger than the other. Also found at the temple were ornaments made of gold and bone, which are believed to have been hair accessories. At the time when settlements like these were flourishing in Ukraine, similar urban centres were being built in the Middle East. This is why Trypillian temples are sometimes very similar to those built in the Fourth millennium BC in ancient Middle Eastern civilisations, such as Mesopotamia and Anatolia. For example, a 6000 year old temple recently unearthed in the ancient city of Eridu in Iraq had floors divided into separate rooms, much like the one near Nebelivka. Burdo and Videiko's findings were recently published in the Ukrainian journal Tyragetia.]]>
Evidence of Animal Sacrifice at 6000 Year Old Ukrainian Temple
