Anemospilia

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Anemospilia is an ancient Minoan temple on Crete, on the northern side of Mount Juktas. It sits in the countryside near Arkhanes, about 7 kilometers from Knossos, and you can see Heraklion from the site. The name means “caves of the wind.” It was first excavated in 1979 by Greek archaeologist Yannis Sakellarakis.

The temple was destroyed by an earthquake and fire around 1700 BC, at about the same time as the first palaces. When found, it lay in ruins with walls only hip high, and ash and charcoal dotted the ground.

The site has three chambers and one annex. In the east chamber, there was a stepped altar on the south side with many offerings. Pots (pithoi) held traces of milk, honey, grains, and peas, and some pottery shows a scene of a ritual.

In the annex, a body was found with crushed bones, suggesting a violent death. The person may have been running when killed, and broken pottery lay nearby.

In the central chamber, the altar (on the south side) was made from carved hillside rock. There were clay feet that would have held a wooden idol (the Xoanon), and ashes from burnt wood. More than 400 pottery vessels lay around the base of the altar. A sacred stone mound, symbolizing earth, stood nearby for libations.

In the western chamber, two skeletons were found: a 28-year-old woman who could have been a high priestess, and a tall man in his late 30s with an iron and silver ring and an engraved seal. His legs were broken, and he lay near a platform with a trough; another body lay on top of the platform—the foetal-position body of an 18-year-old male with bound legs. An ornate 40 cm knife with animal decorations was found among the bones. Some scholars say this points to human sacrifice, while others argue the knife may be a spearhead that fell from a shelf and that the platform might not be an altar. The debate continues among researchers.

The finds from Anemospilia are housed in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum.