[Antoninus]

"Our study emphasizes that historical scientists must consider all evidence when deciphering ancient societal behavior," Schwartz said. "The idea of regular infant sacrifice in Carthage is not based on a study of the cremated remains, but on instances of human sacrifice reported by a few ancient chroniclers, inferred from ambiguous Carthaginian inscriptions, and referenced in the Old Testament."

And lord knows, a modern archaeologist studying bones thousands of years old, is a much more reliable witness than a near-contemporary historian. (Insert eye-roll here).

"Our results show that some children were sacrificed, but they contradict the conclusion that Carthaginians were a brutal bunch who regularly sacrificed their own children."

LOL. Was this posted on Scrappleface?

[muawiyah]

At the same time the Greeks and Romans (and other ancient peoples) had all sorts of reasons to produce negative propaganda about the Carthaginians.

The Romans even accused them of purchasing young babies from impoverished peasants along the Italian coast for the purpose of sacrificing them.

The Carthaginians semitic relatives throughout the area ALSO accused them of infant sacrifice.

Now, as nasty a piece of propaganda as the story might seem, EVERYBODY said it about the Carthaginians but not about each other!

It's probably more like the Aztec practice of bringing in sacrificial victims from their tributary tribes. By the time the Spaniards showed up the tributaries were ready for a revolution!

The Spanish economic competitors of the time ~ the Brits, Scandinavians, French and Italians did not criticize the Spanish for helping put down the Aztecs although they did criticize them for every other thing under the Sun.

The fact the researchers found "newborns" suggests nothing else than that the Carthaginians preferred "fresh meat" to serve Saturn!