OK...but how do we know that they didn’t just develop a belief that when a child dies, it means that the gods have taken him in exchange for some favor or blessing? Perhaps a favor that the parent hasn’t even requested?
Then it would, or at least might, be natural for the parent to deal with the child as if he were a sacrifice. Or at least richer parents who can afford to do so.
I am....not convinced.
The Greeks and Romans were very clear that the Carthaginians put children into the fire. At one point, Carthage suffered a set-back. The ruling class blamed itself — it seems they had principally been sacrificing “low-born” children. This (obviously) had displeased the gods. To make amends, the “best families” immediately sacrificed 300 of their own children.
That’s an interesting denial, and that’s exactly what the issue is in the first place — the Carthaginian practice was denied for many years on no basis whatsoever.
Don't mean to be offensive, but that is pretty feeble. The Carthaginians were a Phoenician, or Canaanite, culture. The literature from the Hebrews, not associated at all with the Greeks or Romans, also insists that these people sacrificed their children. That's three independent witnesses, so to speak?
IMNSHO, the burden of proof lies with the naysayers, not the deniers. Next they 'll be telling us there was no evidence of cannibalism among indigenous American peoples.