What is sacrifice? How can we identify it in the archaeological record?
And what does it tell us about the societies that practice it? Sacred
Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East
investigates these and other questions through the evidence for human
and animal sacrifice in the Near East from the Neolithic to the
Hellenistic periods. Drawing on sociocultural anthropology and history
in addition to archaeology, the book also includes evidence from ancient
China and a riveting eyewitness account and analysis of sacrifice in
contemporary India, which engage some of the key issues at stake. Sacred
Killing vividly presents a variety of methods and theories in the study
of one of the most profound and disturbing ritual activities humans have
ever practiced.