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The Maya did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_religion , in most cases this seemed to be more extaordinary and in a way of trying to get the attention of the gods in extreme circumstances, such as famine, flood or alternately kings ascending the throne. As did the Aztec: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Human_sacrifice , although I have never seem much ...

This is a matter of debate, the Anemospilia findings have been controversial since the site was first excavated in 1979, and the Kydonia findings are quite recent; the sceleton was discovered in 2010. Insofar there has been no conclusive study of the Kydonia findings, the excavations are on going and Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, the archaeologist responsible ...

Carthage practised mass infant sacrifice to their gods in particular Baʿal. The practices increased as Rome was defeating Carthage culminating just before the destruction of the city. Source: NY Times and The Punic Wars by A. Goldsworthy.

One example of human sacrifice was a practice called Sati in India. It was a Hindu tradition, mostly restricted to some northern regions of India. Under Sati, a widowed woman would sit on her husband's pyre and burn along with him. What differentiates Sati from other examples above, was that this practice was voluntary and the decision rested with the widow ...

Followers of Kali in India. It was never a mass thing, but supposedly at some point a certain Kali temple sacrificed a human every day. It still happens today, but a lot less frequently. One non-scolarly source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,322673,00.html Also, Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice#History_by_region ) has ...

About the only book I have come across in looking at the Mayan Calendar, which only came from a class exercise in looking for more information on the Mayan Apocalypse, was the E.G. Richards book Mapping Time. It noted some ideas of lucky and unlucky days, as well as more on other calendar systems. Honestly I don't recall how much he covered in all of it, ...

Ba'al is a Northwest Semitic title applied to many gods of the region. The one I believe you are referring to is Moloch. Here is a exaggerated description of him by Gustave Flaubert, written in 1862. Although it is is not first-hand, he did visit Carthage to research and gather material for it. Then further back, higher than the candelabrum, and much ...

One form of human sacrifice that I hadn't considered was the act of retainer sacrifice that was exercised in ancient Egypt as well as Mesopotamia. Whenever a king or ruler died, his entire household could be executed to serve him in the after-life. There even seems to be indications that this happened in ancient China as well. This form of sacrifice I ...

Famously, the Bridge of Arta supposedly could not be built until the engineer sacrificed his wife. Also supposedly one of the Herods sacrificed his wife (Herod the Great certainly killed much of his family), but I cannot find an internet reference for that.

The ritual calendar(s) are quite detailed, with minor differences between cultures. The Maya were no special case in the following list, because the ritual calendar was more-or-less driven by the imperialism of the Aztec empire. Simply, the 'corners of the year' (solstices and equinoxes) were the major ritual times because the sacrifices governed the ...

Adding up an example, if you read the old testament, you see numerous examples, most famously when Abraham was willing to sacrifise Isaac, of course we know it didn't happen. And since Abraham didn't doubt this is God's will, I think this was in a way accepted, even if it wasn't the daily practice amongst Jewish people that time. consider the followings: 1 ...