Image Details

A sheep, carved into the upper register of a Tanit III limestone stela. In the seventh century B.C., one out of every three burial urns contained animal remains, but by the fourth century (and later) only one out of every ten urns contained only animal remains. The presence of urns that contained only animal bones and that were marked by stone monuments is clear evidence that the Tophet precinct was not an ordinary cemetery but a burial place of sacrifices to the gods.