Kostishche

the name for an ancient sacrificial site (from the first millennium B.C. to the end of the first millennium A.D.). Kostishcha are widespread in the Upper and Middle Kama regions (in modern Perm’ Oblast). They consist of layers of ashes and charred bones of sacrificed animals. Numerous votive objects have been found in the kostishcha (figurines of people and animals, arrowheads, coins, miniature clay vessels). The earliest small kostishcha were found in the habitation sites of the Anan’ino culture. They were subsequently moved out into the groves and existed there until the eighth to tenth centuries. The Gliadenovo Kostishche is the best known.