A votive deposit or votive offering is an object left in a sacred place for ritual purposes.

Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favour with supernatural forces. This is attested by historical Roman and Greek sources although similar acts continue into the present day, for example in the wishing well.

In Europe votive deposits became common in the middle to late Bronze Age. Intact, high status artefacts were apparently buried or more commonly cast into bodies or water or peat bogs, from whence they could not possibly have been recovered. The purposeful discarding of valuable items such as swords and axes is thought to have therefore have had ritual overtones. The items have since been found in rivers and lakes by archaeologists.

In archaeology, votive deposits differ from hoards in that although they may contain similar items, votive deposits were not intended for later recovery.

Curse tablet

A curse tablet is a small sheet of tin or lead on which a message wishing misfortune upon someone else was inscribed. The tablet was subsequently rolled up and thrown into a well or spring. Hundreds of such tablets have been recovered from places such as Aquae Sulis, Roman Bath, England.

See also

• Ex-voto
• Votive candle
• Grave goods
• Votive site
• Cursing Not Curing: The Darker Side of Holy Wells. On a Bath University site

External Links

• Votive Offerings