I’ve seen this used as a punchline in a few places–Futurama, for instance–but I really wonder. Did any civilization, anywhere, throw virginal women into active volcanos to appease them?
Beats me, but that’s a good reason to start having sex young. 
I haven’t heard or read anything definite about sacrifices to or in volcanos. I suspect that like most pop-culture images (like cannibals boiling explorers in a pot) this one has negligible basis in reality. There are plenty of stories about human sacrifice in various cultures, but I own to a suspicion that the practice was far more rarely used than people think. I’ll bet no one was pitched into a volcano*.
Here’s the TV tropes page on the topic:
*First, you’d have to climb to the top – no trivial thing. And ,most cones are pretty irregular at the top. There’s a good chance that there’s nowhere convenient to toss someone in from, and if there were, it’s likely to be pretty suspect, likely to drop in the tossers as well as the tossee (I think Frodo was pretty damned fortunate in Lord of the Rings. Princess Parisa was in Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, as well.)
I do not know if ancient Hawaiians practiced human sacrifice to volcanoes. I don’t know if they preferred virgins. I did see in National Geographic that mythology about King Kamehameha say that he would offer a lock of his hair in a banana leaf to the volcano in times of high activity. Remember, as the person who, logically had the most manu, a piece of him would make a better offer, not some sexually inexperienced girl. Virginity isn’t what people of this particular belief system value as divine currency.
The ancient Mayans did throw girls into natural wells (cenotes).
If they survived, they were thrown a rope, and allowed to climb out.
I believe you, but demand more details.
So I just flashed on building a REALLY big slingshot. Load the virgin in and WHOOSH! She clears the edge of the caldera and waves on her way down.
Seems like it’d almost be worth it just for the ride.
I don’t know, he did get his finger bitten off.
I don’t know about the rope bit, but human remains have been recovered from a cenote near Chichen Itza called Cenote Sagrado. Having visited it, I can say it’s creepy as hell.
Virgin Hurlin’—a competition for the Punkin’ Chunkin off-season.
As others have mentioned, it’s damned dangerous to all involved to throw someone into a volcano. The image of a couple of guys standing at a precipice over a pool of lava just doesn’t hold true for a couple of reasons. First, even if they’re a hundred feet above the lava, it’s still HOT. Hundreds if not thousands of degrees. Second, there’s so much poisonous gas and fumes coming out of the lava, that they’d have asphyxiated long before they could chuck the virgie in. Third, an active volcano is often showering ash and debris around it, further endangering all parties in the sacrifice.
It might be hard to get the angle right and adjusting the tension required based on the size of the virgin though, and things like crosswinds. What you’d need here is a giant, fireproof wall behind the lip of the volcano… And you’d have to call *backboard *beforehand for it to count, of course.
Not enough virgins.
Ain’t gonna fly.
Is it time to unlock/resurrect this early epic thread?
In Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence told of entering an oasis with the Arab army, only to find the Turks had thrown corpses into the water to make it useless to the Arabs. It was horrible. IMO it would be a very bad idea for somebody to throw a sacrifice into his own well.
It would be a very bad idea to throw a sacrifice into your only well. From the little I’ve read on the practice, this was a special well reserved for sacrifices.
While visiting Kilauea a few years ago, I ran into a rather exasperated young couple trying to keep 3 young kids on the path and together.
The father asked me if Pele was still accepting sacrifices…
So, it is at least considered from time to time 
Why on this green earth would any civilization want to throw their young virgins in a well or a volcano or anything? That thinking is beyond comprehension.
Never the less, at least some cultures did practice human sacrifice. Why did the Maya throw virgins into wells? Because the gods demanded it. The gods of the Aztec, Olmec, Toltec, Maya and Inca were just nuts for human sacrifice.
Whereas our gods are just cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, that’s progress right there.