Editing Child sacrifice (section)

==Europe==
Archaeologist [[Peter Warren (archaeologist)|Peter Warren]] was involved in the [[British School at Athens]] excavation of [[Palekastro]] for one season and the excavation at [[Lefkandi]] for two seasons. Then he led the excavation at [[Fournou Korifi]], [[Myrtos]] from 1967 to 1968. During the 1980s, in two archaeology magazines, Warren wrote about "child sacrifice" despite there being no mention of this subject in the official excavation report, which was completed and published along with his book in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Peter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1052134057 |title=Myrtos : an early Bronze Age settlement in Crete |date=1972 |publisher=British School of Archaeology at Athens/Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-500-42007-6 |oclc=1052134057}}</ref><ref>Rodney Castleden, Minoans. Life in Bronze Age Crete (illustrated by the author), London-New York, Routledge,pp. 170–173.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&q=peter+warren+child+sacrifice&pg=PA172 |title = Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete|isbn = 9781134880645|last1 = Castleden|first1 = Rodney|date = 4 January 2002| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Startling as it may seem, the available evidence so far points to an argument that the children were slaughtered and their flesh cooked and possibly eaten in a sacrifice ritual made in the service of a nature deity to assure an annual renewal of fertility.<ref>Peter Warren, "Knossos: New Excavations and Discoveries," Archaeology (July / August 1984), pp. 48–55.</ref><ref>Minoan Crete and Ecstatic Religion: Preliminary Observations on the 1979 Excavations at Knossos. Front Cover. Peter Warren. 1981</ref>}}

Rodney Castleden uncovered a sanctuary near Knossos where the remains of a 17-year-old were found.
{{blockquote|His ankles had evidently been tied and his legs folded up to make him fit on the table... He had been ritually murdered with the long bronze dagger engraved with a boar's head that lay beside him.<ref>Rodney Castleden, ''The Knossos Labyrinth: A New View of the "Palace of Minos" at Knossos'', 2012, pp. 121–22.</ref>}}

The [[Ver Sacrum]] is a religious practice of [[Ancient peoples of Italy|ancient Italic peoples]], especially the [[Sabelli]] (or [[Sabini]]) and their offshoot [[Samnites]]. The practice is related to that of ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#devotio|devotio]]'' in [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]]. It was customary to resort to it at times of particular danger or strife for the community. Some scholars believe that in earlier times ''devoted'' or vowed children were actually [[Human sacrifice|sacrificed]], but later expulsion was substituted. [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] states the practice of child sacrifice was one of the causes that brought about the fall of the [[Pelasgians]] in Italy.

The human children who had been ''devoted'' were required to leave the community in early adulthood, at 20 or 21 years of age. They were entrusted to a god for protection, and led to the border with a veiled face. Often they were led by an animal under the auspices of the god. As a group, the youth were called ''sacrani'' and were supposed to enjoy the protection of Mars until they had reached their destination, expelled the inhabitants or forced them into submission, and founded their own settlement. The [[Waldensians]], a medieval sect deemed heretical, were accused of participating in child sacrifice.<ref name="Tice Wickliffe 2003 p. 19">{{cite book | last1=Tice | first1=P. | last2=Wickliffe | first2=H.J.T.L. | title=History of the Waldenses: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time | publisher=Book Tree | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-58509-099-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3v-YdBOpt0C&pg=PP19 | access-date=2023-02-27 | page=19}}</ref>