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LiveScience
LiveScience
Margherita Bassi

Archaeologists discover Etruscan well that was ritually opened with offerings for a goddess — and 'closed' with human bodies

Images from an archaeological excavation showing relics and the well where they were removed from.

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered stunning bronze statuettes and a unique plate at the bottom of a ritual well associated with an ancient Etruscan goddess. It's possible that the artifacts were placed in the well in a ceremony to celebrate the "birth" of an ancient city.

The additional discovery of ancient human remains in the well suggests that these individuals' burials may have been part of a "ritual closing," of the well, Elisabetta Govi, an archaeologist at the University of Bologna who led the excavation, told Live Science.

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