View from the north. In front of the building is the antechamber. To the left is the room for non-blood sacrifices. Blood sacrifies took place in the room to the right.

The temple of Anemospilia is located at the northern end of Mount Iuktas, overlooking arable land and modern day Heraklion, with extensive views both to the east and the west. The site was excavated by J. Sakellarias in 1979, and given its small size, turned out to be one of the most significant excavations to have taken place in Crete.

The temple is unusual for a Minoan site in that it is more symmetrical and less labyrinthine than most Minoan remains. The simple design consists of three rectangular rooms in a row, and a corridor or antechamber running the length of the three rooms to the north of the building. There is no other example of such a building from the Minoan-Mycenean periods.

The temple was destroyed early in the 17th century BCE, as examples of MM II and MM IIIA pottery styles were found in the temple. It was almost certainly destroyed by earthquake, following which the lamps placed inside the shrine burnt whatever was flammable. Further evidence for an earthquake comes from the skeleton of a man found in the antechamber. He had been holding a vase, possibly containing blood as it resembled one to be seen on the Agia Triada sarcophagus into which the blood of a sacrficed bull is dripping. The position of the body suggests that the person was running from the building when it collapsed and killed him or her.

View from the south. The room in which the human sacrifice is said to have taken place is on the left.

The antechamber was the place where the preparation of ritual acts would have taken place. Among the finds here were vases, pithoi, mortars and pestles and tripod cooking pots. The pithoi would have stored various foodstuffs and woven cloth.

The central room was full of larger utensils, and almost the whole floor was covered with vases. Along the south wall there was a bench which may have been used both for sitting on and for placing cult objects. The most interesting find here was a pair of larger-than-life-size clay feet and ash from a burnt wooden object. This evidence suggests that there was originally a large statue here. The body would have been made of wood and slotted onto two sticks at the top of the clay feet. The body would have been dressed in material and the feet would not have been visible. It is likely that the statue originally stood on the bench next to the only piece of bare rock which intruded into the building, deliberately allowed to do so as it represented "sacred earth".

The eastern room was where bloodless ritual ceremonies took place. Along the south wall there was a stepped altar. The finds here were smaller in size than in the central room and included two small bronze boxes similar in design to others found at Mycenae and in the Mycenaean royal burial at Tholos Tomb A in Phourni cemetery near Archanes. Large bowls were placed on the stepped altar and it is known that these would have been used for offerings of agricultural produce -- fruit, crops, vegetables, wine and oil.

The west room

The west room is, in many ways, the most interesting. First of all, unlike the other two rooms, the entrance is not in the centre of the wall but to the east so it is out of alignment with the entrance into the antechamber. This room was used for blood sacrifices. Uniquely in Crete, three skeletons were found in the room. Two of these people, a man and a woman, had been killed by the earthquake and resulting fire. Another male skeleton was also found in the room. This body was found lying on an altar. A knife was resting on the skeleton. The feet had been tied and it has been argued that the young man had been sacrificed and the blood drained from his body. If so, it might well have been his blood in the vessel found in the antechamber next to the skeleton. It is most likely that the normal victims of sacrifice would have been bulls, but in the face of seismic activity which threatened the whole community, it may have been considered necessary to make a human sacrifice.

A detailed description of the excavations and finds at Anemospilia can be found in the guide book to Archanes by J. and E. Sakellarakis, published by Ekdotike Athenon, Athens 1991.

The site is fenced in and not generally open to the public. However, a good view of the site can be had from the south fence and the views of Crete are spectacular.

Anemospilia looking from SE to NW	The central room from the north
The central room from the north	The east room from the north
The east room from the north	The temple from the north
The east room from the south	The central room from the south
The west room from the south	The antechamber seen from the south