Archaeologists Reveal Ancient Greek Temple With Evidence of Sacrifice

Excavations on a Greek island have revealed an ancient temple where animal sacrifices once took place.

The temple lies within an ancient Greek sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Artemis located in the coastal town of Amarynthos on Euboea (also known as Evia)—the second largest island in the country.

Artemis was an important figure in ancient Greek mythology, considered to be the goddess of nature, wild animals, chastity and childbirth. She was said to be the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.

The sanctuary of Artemis in Amarynthos is one of the most important centers of her cult in the region. Archaeologists had searched for the location of the lost sanctuary for more than a century, before the mystery was finally unraveled in 2017. The discovery of its location was one of the most important finds in ancient Greek archaeology and received widespread media attention at the time.

Over the past four years, a team of Swiss and Greek archaeologists have been conducting excavations in the heart of the sanctuary, where a temple is now steadily revealing its secrets.

The first traces of the temple were found in 2020, but only after acquiring a private plot of land in 2023 were the researchers able to uncover the entire building and assess its significance, Sylvian Fachard, director of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) and a professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, told Newsweek.

During last summer's excavations, archaeologists uncovered numerous architectural features, hundreds of artifacts—including exotic objects—and traces of the ancient origins of Artemis' cult, as well of evidence of ritual animal sacrifice at the site.

The archaeological significance of the latest discoveries is "huge", according to Fachard, who is a co-director of the research project at Amarynthos.

"Most Greek sanctuaries were excavated in the 19th and early 20th centuries," Fachard said. "The possibility of excavating Euboea's largest sanctuary in the 21st century, applying cutting-edge excavation techniques, is an extraordinary opportunity for recording the archaeological signature of a Greek cult, ancient sacrifice, the gestures, and beliefs of dedicants, as well as the identity of the worshiped goddess."

The 2023 research campaign in the heart of the sanctuary enabled the complete excavation of the remains of a temple at the site. The archaeologists revealed evidence of construction from three distinct historical periods superimposed on top of each other. The archaeologists dated one set of temple remains to around the early 7th century B.C.

The excavations threw up a number of surprises. For one, the shape of the floor plan of the temple—the most important part of the sanctuary—is quite unusual for the period, while its size was larger than originally anticipated.

In fact, the length of the temple reaches 100 feet in the ancient Greek measurement system, which is roughly comparable to the modern imperial foot used in the U.S. today.

The 100-foot length of the temple is a symbolic measurement that has also been seen in other monuments from the same period.

The archaeologists also uncovered traces of fire suggesting the "100-foot" temple was partially destroyed in a blaze in the second half of the 6th century B.C. It then appears to have been temporarily restored with mud-brick walls before being entirely replaced by a new building at the end of the century.

The excavations also revealed remains from an even earlier period—namely, a badly preserved religious building that could date to the early 8th century B.C.—as well as several bronze animal figurines of the same era and a terracotta bull's head from the late Bronze Age. The religious structure represents the earliest evidence for the cult of Artemis in ancient Greece, Fachard said.

More investigations need to be conducted in these deeper archaeological levels, but the finds to date suggest that the cult of Artemis at Amarynthos at the site has prehistoric origins.

Another surprising discovery archaeologists made at the site was three altars, or hearths, within the 8th-century temple—one in each of its three rooms. Samples taken from around these altars revealed a dense succession of layers containing ash, charred bones and lime—evidence of animal sacrifices to the gods, according to Fachard.

These kinds of hearths were usually found outside the temples in ancient Greek sanctuaries—indoor versions are uncommon. On these stone platforms, sacrificial fires would have once consumed the bodies of animals offered to the gods.

The excavations also uncovered a large number of artifacts at the temple site that were likely intended as offerings.

"Particularly impressive was the discovery of a votive deposit within the temple, which included over 700 objects in a remarkable state of preservation," Fachard said. "The objects in this exceptional deposit are essential for understanding votive practices in Amarynthos at the end of the Archaic period."

"Vases, figurines, jewelry, mirrors and cloths relate primarily to the feminine sphere. Others, such as knives and phiales [a type of shallow bowl], are ritual objects. Overall, these objects inform us about ancient gestures and the intentions of the offering with a rare degree of precision."

Several exotic objects stood out among these artifacts, including a finely chiseled ivory head with Egyptian features.

Although the study of the deposit is still in progress, Fachard said the artifacts relate to one of the areas in which the protection of Artemis was sought: for example, helping individuals, especially women, during key moments such as childbirth, infancy, and the transition to adulthood.

"This is one of the many faces of Artemis, as protector of the city's population," he said.

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