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Ancient cult complex discovered in Israel: Ritual sacrifices for storm god?
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 20:55
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| Researchers discovered an ancient cult complex in Israel. The site may have been used to make religious sacrifices to Baal, the Canaanites’ storm god. Pictured is one of the very large pithoid jars found on the site. |
Excerpt from Tech Times
By Rebecca Kaplan
An awesome ancient cult complex was discovered recently in Israel, shedding some new light on how people practiced religion 3,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe this discovery may be a place where ancient Canaanites once may have made religious sacrifices.
The cult complex was discovered in Tel Burna, the site of an ongoing excavation project in Israel. The Tel Burna Archaeological Project is directed by Itzhaq Shai, who works at Ariel University. The excavation site is located in the Shephelah region of Israel. The team began excavating the site in 2009.
The archaeologists found three connected cups, which likely came from Cyprus. They found jars that are nearly the size of humans. The very large jars the team found are called pithoi jars.
They also found remains of burnt animal bones that look likely to have been used in religious sacrifices. The religion of the people who worshipped here is still unknown, but Shai has his money on Baal, the Canaanite storm god. Shai said that his team found letters in the complex from a language called Ugarit, discovered in another ancient site in Syria, which suggests that the people were likely worshipping Baal.
Among other things discovered, the team also found an object with Egyptian writing in hieroglyphs on it. This sheds some light on the ways that ancient people were able to travel and communicate with each other, as well as how they traded.
Source: http://www.ascensionearth2012.org/2014/10/ancient-cult-complex-discovered-in.html
