Votive Research Articles

An Assemblage of Ceramic Figurines from the Site of Tell Nabasha

Sixteen ceramic figurines were discovered during excavations in 2015 at the site of Tell Nabasha by a team from the University of Liverpool. The figurines were found in several contexts dating from the Late to the early Ptolemaic Period. This article presents the assemblage and discusses the function of these figurines within the sacred landscape of Tell Nabasha linking them to the worship of primarily two local deities: Wadjet, Mistress of Imet, and Harpocrates. The figurines were most likely produced on the site and donated as votive offerings to the local temple, particularly during festivals conducted at the site. [Formula: see text]

Flint arrowhead from a hoard in Papowo Biskupie, Chełmno district: comments on the discussion on the sacral function of lithic artefacts from the turn of the Iron Age

The article presents a flint arrowhead from Papowo Biskupie, Chełmno district. Hoards from this place and many loose metal finds are interpreted as votive offerings deposited in the water. Numerous objects made in bronze are accompanied by abundant non-cremated human bones unearthed there. The archaeological site is dated back to a period from about 1000 to 400 BC. A traceological analysis of the flint arrowhead showed that it had never been used, and that it found its way into one of the hoards on purpose as an element of a set of many artefacts that were deposited with in a birch bark container. Therefore, it probably served a purpose similar to that attributed to flint artefacts discovered in Lusatian-culture cremation graves. The provenance of the arrowhead can be determined in the context of Scythian-style ornaments that were reaching Kuyavia and Chełmno Land, as they have been found more and more often in the Lusatian culture in the area of Tarnobrzeg.

Fragmentation of votive offerings in the sanctuary of Olympia

A new project at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie in Mainz is investigating the phenomenon of fragmentation of copper alloy votive offerings in the sanctuary of Olympia. By using a variety of methodologies, thousands of fragments have already been analysed to to gain insight into the function and significance of this phenomenon, when and how the objects were destroyed, and the reasons why they were recovered in large numbers.

Small bronzes as votive offerings from the Sanctuary of Diana in Nemi

The Sanctuary of Diana in Nemi is one of the most important archaeological sites in central Italy: the complex, built on different levels, consisted of three terraces with a great temple, a theatre, a nymphaeum and also other facilities, dating from the VII century BC to the Severian Age, with traces of destruction in the IV century AD. Since 2003, the University of Perugia carried on archaeological excavations in various parts of the Sanctuary, cooperating with both the Soprintendenza of Lazio and, from 2014, the Ludwig- Maximilians Universität of München. A considerable amount of materials has been brought to light from the site, of which votive bronze small-casted figurines are just a small part. Many of them represent gods, heroes and normal human beings, but there are also parts of human bodies or gods features. So, aim of this paper will be a preliminary analysis of these figurines, primarily to identify the subjects and then to describe their productive techniques. Finally, starting from the contexts of provenance, each one will be described and put in relation with parallels, not only to find a suitable chronology, but also to understand the meaning behind their use in such an important historical and archaeological place.

When bodies fall apart

Anatomical votives have largely been considered by scholars in connection with Roman expansion in Central Italy. Within this ‘religious romanization’ frame, scholars have viewed the presence of the anatomical terracottas of the 4th–2nd cc. BC as the material manifestation of Roman presence in the religious sphere of the Italian peninsula. This paper presents the results from recent and ongoing archaeological studies on pre-Roman sanctuaries in Central and Northern Italian and focuses on the presence of bronze body parts among their votive offerings. The data allows for a reconsideration of the influence of Rome on local religious traditions and sheds light on the mechanism of continuity and change after the Roman expansion.

Zeolite Stone Buddha Sculptures (pulsŏkche) in the Kyŏngsang Province during the Late Chosŏn Dynasty: Production and Transportation

The rising popularity of zeolite stone Buddhist sculptures (pulsŏkche) during the late Chosŏn Dynasty meant that temples and monk-artisans encountered new challenges. The material properties of stone, difficult to transport and limited by regional availability, posed logistical difficulties. Unlike traditional materials like wood or clay, which artisans could work with directly at the temple, stone Buddha statues often required production at a separate location from their enshrinement site. Dedicated workshops, referred to as pulsangso 佛像所 (Buddha statue production site) and chosangch'ŏ 造像處 (statue manufacturing place), were established near stone quarries for the purpose of producing these statues. This indicates that artisans likely completed the sculpting process in these workshops, particularly in ones near Kyŏngju, before transporting the sculptures to their final destinations for eye-opening ceremonies and installation in the main hall. This separation between production and enshrinement reshaped the roles and task delegation among monk-artisan groups. The responsibilities of the chŭngmyŏng (證明, the monk overseeing Buddhist projects and the ritual of depositing votive objects) became increasingly limited in stone Buddha production. On the other hand, monks involved in the image-making process took on a broader range of tasks, from procuring the raw material to carving, to depositing offerings inside the statues. Unlike those who primarily worked with wood and managed the entire production of Buddha images, pedestals, and votive plaques, the monk-artisans working with zeolite stone focused exclusively on the creation of the stone images.

Revisiting Gubbio: Settlement Patterns and Ritual from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Roman Era

The Gubbio Revisited project, initiated to reinterpret the archaeological evidence collected during the 1980s Gubbio Project, primarily by a conversion from a paper to a digital record, has revealed significant insights into the evolving settlement patterns and religious expression in the Gubbio valley in Central Italy. This reanalysis of the survey evidence underscores the rhythms of settlement and ritual practice from the Neolithic through the Bronze and Iron Ages, into Roman times. Key excavations in the 1980s at Monte Ingino, Monte Ansciano, San Marco Romano, and San Marco Neolitico added details not only of settlement activity but also of embedded ritual, evidenced by material culture including pottery, faunal remains, and votive offerings. The foundation myth of indigenous religious practices, even amidst Roman influence, is documented through the Iguvine Tables alongside the introduction of new cults, showcasing a blend of local and imperial religiosity, a common feature in the Roman world. This research enriches the understanding of Gubbio’s historical and cultural landscape, emphasizing the demographic rhythms of the valley alongside the integral role of ritual in its societal evolution.

Displays of Devotion

Although Mogao Cave 17 near Dunhuang is renowned as a vast repository of manuscripts and paintings, it also contained a greater volume of printed materials than is commonly represented; and while enigmatic, these surviving artefacts provide windows onto print reception from close to the beginning of the era of mass printing in East Asia. Among the documents recovered from the library cave are thirtyodd illustrated Buddhist prints commissioned in 947 ce by the ruler of Dunhuang, Cao Yuanzhong, which were over fifty years old at the time the cave was sealed. Now scattered across a global network of museums, libraries, and private collections, the prints were transmitted as a consequence of their creative reuse as Buddhist votive objects: the prints, which began their lives as sponsored displays of power, prestige, and merit-generation, passed into new contexts as personalized (often anonymous) devotional objects, displayed and sometimes physically reconfigured using traditional techniques, including mounting, cropping, backing, colouring, and collaging. By considering the alterations made to the Cao corpus of paper prints alongside similar surviving woodblock illustrated prints and portable paintings from Dunhuang, this essay reflects on the forms and significance of the creative uses of the prints of 947 and helps to clarify the relationship between an emerging print culture, traditional technologies, and local Buddhist devotional practices in the tenth century.

O literaturze mirakularnej, epilepsji i innych zagadnieniach poruszonych przez Elżbietę Nowosielską w książce pt. „Melancholia, szaleństwo i inne »choroby głowy« w Rzeczypospolitej w XVII i XVIII wieku”

For decades, the history of medicine, healing, medical culture, health, etc. has been fascinating researchers: historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and doctors alike. Researchers in this field use source materials that have been known in science for a long time, often creating a questionnaire of issues and questions that no one has posed so far. Elżbieta Nowosielska’s publication, entitled „Melancholy, madness and other ‘headaches’ in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th and 18th centuries” (2021) belongs to this group of works. It is clear to anyone who has dealt with books of miracles and graces that, on the basis of the miraculous literature, if properly explored, E. Nowosielska would have come close to one of the goals outlined in the book’s introduction – a possibly complete picture of the approach to madness or melancholy. The author underestimated the effort made by Jowita Jagla, a researcher into the books of miracles and graces, and the votive offerings, who discusses issues related to epilepsy in her work, and disregarded several other texts. This does not speak very well of the search she carried out.

Funding of 15th Century Altars in St. Mary’s Church in Cracow and Providing for their Upkeep till 1529

The altars described in the article were the last - according to the preserved records – to be funded in the 15th century inside St. Mary’s Church. Procuring a new main altar for the church in Cracow testified, as it were, to the standing that this church gained at the end of the century. There is no doubt whatsoever that Cracow burghers treated the basilica with exceptional care manifested through their generosity when it came to funding altars and providing for ministers at the altars. Unquestionably, the most magnificent of all 15th century altars - and one that was at the same time an expression o f care of all burghers for the interior decoration of the church - was the main altar of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1477-1489), made by Wit Stwosz. At the end of the 15th century Cracow burghers were able to participate in services held at the main altar or any of the 32 side altars (11 of which were funded in the 14th and 21 in the 15thcentury) or in services in chapels. The altars were religious or votive offerings by Cracowburghers, who provided for the old and made new provisions in their legacies as well asmaintained the existing ones and made provisions for new ministers.

Governance models for historical hospitals: evidence from Italy

Many hospitals and health care organizations over the centuries have inherited handcrafts of artistic value, objects of worships, donations from pilgrims, votive offerings, legates as a result of their centuries-old activity in the social and health care of their community. The value of these artistic assets and the role in the territory of these hospitals have transformed them into cultural heritage over time, introducing the issue of the coexistence of cultural and care management. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify governance models of what we will call historical hospitals, that is, hospitals that because of their history, their assets, and their artistic heritage, far from being places only dedicated to provision of health care services represent cultural heritage. To pursue this research objective, five Italian historical hospitals were selected and identified as significant case studies for their historic and artistic relevance. Through the analysis of these case studies the paper identifies models of governance of historical hospitals and the reasons of their adoption.

A Material Culture of Medieval Disability: Contextualising Norwegian Votive Offerings

In this paper, the potential for material culture studies within the history of disability is explored through a study of preserved anatomical votives from medieval Norway left in connection with miraculous healing practices. The Norwegian votives, which include wooden body parts of hands, arms, finger, feet and legs as well as mobility aids, are here related to the lived experience of the physically impaired. Anatomical votives have been interpreted as meaningful depictions of how an individual conceptualised the body part in question, which they sought healing for. Through a posthumanist approach, anatomical votives can, however, not only be seen as solely representational of a body part but as material extensions of the body. Preserved mobility aids, here identified as hand-trestles and a knee-brace, provide insight into the availability of aids for individuals with lower limb impairments in the medieval North. The study of the material culture of disability can elucidate cultural notions of disability in relation to physical impairment. While written miracle accounts have been identified as important sources for the study of medieval disability, their associated material culture is here presented as important data for the embodied experience of the physically impaired in medieval Norway.

Accessing the Divine: Indigenous Medical Specialists, Catholic Priests, and Nonorthodox Methods of Healing in Colonial Mexico

Abstract This study examines forty-six colonial records spanning over two centuries (ca. 1581–1802), the majority of which consist of Mexican Inquisition and criminal trials. The article illuminates how Indigenous medical specialists, alternatively labeled ritual specialists, maintained communal solidarity by accessing the divine using sacred rituals. From New Spain’s southern extremity in Chiapas to its northern frontier in Santa Fe, devout commoners made votive offerings to combat disease and recalibrate the cosmos. Indigenous medical specialists such as curanderos and midwives remained influential locally because commoners perceived their ceremonies to be efficacious. Ritual specialists used their advanced knowledge of medicine and spirituality to alleviate illnesses like dysentery, fever, and typhoid. Concern for ailing family members prompted Natives to take an inclusive approach to the treatment of disease, which could conflict with church doctrine. Case testimony reveals that diverse, nonorthodox methods of healing persisted in the face of Spanish colonization. Faith in the efficacy of Indigenous cosmologies helped the infirm to envisage a better life, instilling hope. The study’s focus on the spiritual and material illuminates how ancestral knowledge produced political and social ramifications centuries after inception, demonstrating how the past reverberates into the present.

Bronze Age Raw Material Hoard from Greater Poland: Archaeometallurgical Study Based on Material Research, Thermodynamic Analysis, and Experiments.

Hoard finds from the Bronze Age have appeared all over Europe, prompting questions about their functions (either as raw materials for recycling or votive objects). The hoard trove of raw materials from Przybysław in Greater Poland is an interesting example of a discovery that is related to the foundry activities of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age communities (c. 600 BC). The deposit consists of fragments of raw materials that were damaged end products intended for smelting. The research included the characterisation of the material in terms of the variety of the raw materials that were used. The individual elements of the hoard were characterised in terms of their chemical compositions, microstructures, and properties. A range of modern instrumental research methods were used: metallographic macroscopic and microscopic observations by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), chemical-composition analysis by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF), X-ray microanalysis (EDS), and detailed crystallisation analysis by electron microscopy with an emphasis on electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). As part of this study, model alloys were also prepared for two of the selected chemical compositions, (i.e., CuPbSn and CuPb). These alloys were analysed for their mechanical and technological properties. This research of the hoard from Przybysław (Jarocin district, Greater Poland) has contributed to the recognition and interpretation of the function and nature of the hoard by using modern research and modelling methods as a cultic raw material deposit.

Tauroctony Relief from Dardagan Revisited / Nova interpretacija tauroktonije iz Dardagana

This paper examines the tauroctony relief from the village Dardagan, near Zvornik (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and proposes a new interpretation of the monument. Contrary to previous views, which deemed the relief as a primitive work executed by an unskilled sculptor, the careful analysis of its stylistic, compositional, and iconographic features, as argued in the paper, reveals its semi-finished nature. Since the existence of the workshop at the quarry in Dardagan was recently proven, the tauroctony relief is interpreted as its product. Moreover, it is the sole evidence that, besides funerary monuments and architectural elements, the workshop also produced votive images for specific cults. The tauroctony from Dardagan represents a unique instance of a semi finished Mithraic sculpture discovered at its production site within the Roman province of Dalmatia. Furthermore, an examination of archaeological reports and original photographs of Milica Kosorić allowed for a better understanding of the context of the tauroctony’s discovery, providing new insights into the small finds and rock-carved figures so far associated with the cult. It is argued that these finds cannot be linked to the cult of Mithras and that the existence of the mithraeum at the site remains hypothetical.

Organic residue analysis in archaeological pottery. Heating markers in non-cooking vessels from Etruscan Tarquinia (Italy): A sampling problem?

The organic residues in the material of a series of pottery vessels from a votive deposit (3rd − 2nd century BCE) in the excavations of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia (Italy) were analyzed by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Long-chain (31, 33 and 35 carbon atoms) ketones were initially detected in the lipid extracts of all the ceramic samples examined, irrespectively of the characteristics of the vessels in terms of shape and texture and of the possibility they had been used for cooking, recognized in several studies as the main cause of the formation of these compounds. Considering that some cases have also been reported in the literature in which the presence of these ketones seemed unexpected for a given ceramic container, it was decided to examine the possible correlation of their occurrence, for the set of vessels examined in the present work, with the sampling mode used to obtain the ceramic powder before extraction with solvents for the recovery of the organic residue. It was thus possible to demonstrate that the use of a drill for sampling, a modality not unusual in this kind of study, can give rise to the formation of these compounds in an archaeological ceramic material in which fatty acids are absorbed, particularly if it contains calcium carbonate, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the examined pottery fragments. A laboratory experiment based on a fragment of modern pottery in which palmitic and stearic acids were absorbed from a solution, and from which powder samples were then obtained both by drilling and by manual scraping of the pottery surface, allowed to validate the hypothesis above. It was therefore possible to highlight the importance of careful consideration also of the sampling phase in interpreting the results of the analysis of organic residues in archaeological pottery.

Anthropological Aspects of Local Cults: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Studying Religious Sites of Memory

The article deals with theoretical approaches to the analysis of anthropological aspects of religious places of memory associated with the veneration of Christian saints. This form of religious practice is often a kind of refraction of a dogmatically formalized official religious system, passed through the prism of traditional beliefs, sometimes of archaic origin, in which the objects of worship are both officially fixed material objects (icons, sometimes sculptural images of saints or Mother-of-God, worship crosses), and unofficial locally revered shrines, including springs, stones, trees, and even landscapes. The author analyzes essentialist and non-essentialist theories used to interpret local cults of saints associated with the veneration of natural objects: the theory of dual faith (dvoeverie) and “Orthodox animism”, folk religion, lived religion, vernacular religion, material religion. The most successful methodological approach to explain the historical and cultural survival of religious places of memory, according to the author, is the actor-network theory of B. Latour. Being a non-essentialist approach, the actor-network theory does not distinguish between different types of actors: people, natural objects, and supernatural actors. Natural objects create a network between pilgrims and supernatural actors, which manifests itself in direct worship practices, an important element of which are appropriate votive offerings. Natural actors carry out the function of mediation between the worlds, connecting a person with a supernatural actor who is constantly invisibly present in a sacred place, and thus a network is built that has an important psychological significance for believers, thereby determining the social significance of religious places of memory.

Slavery in First Millennium Arabia: Epigraphy and the Qurʾān

Abstract It is commonly assumed that slavery was a widespread practice in pre-Islamic Arabia. This assumption is based on references to enslaved people in the Qurʾān. At the same time, it replicates biased accounts of the region’s inhabitants found in (mostly Graeco-Roman) “external” sources. Finally, the claim builds on the existence of “societies with slaves”' and “slave societies” in the surroundings of late antique Arabia. No thorough attempt to examine slavery in pre-Islamic Arabia has been carried out by engaging with the abundant epigraphical records. People in subordinate positions towards other men could carve inscriptions in bronze and leave them in temples (which were open to people of all stations), but it is unclear if these people should be considered “servants” or “enslaved people”. As such, it is impossible to tell if the people mentioned as ʿbd, for example, offered their services as servants or were obliged to do so and worked against their will as enslaved people. Prisoners and privileged guests at royal courts were often one and the same. The presence of captives in these inscriptions points to the fact that some people were bought or sold as personal property in the first millennium. As religious and secular practices overlapped in ancient times, bronze votive inscriptions should not be considered mere votive objects but as holding legal value with a profound ceremonial role in the correct functioning of the stratified society of pre-Islamic South Arabia. In continuity with pre-Islamic times, the Qur’ān regards servants as part of the master’s household and the community of the believers (Ummah): Islam was neither a rupture nor an alien product in the region.

Reading Ancient Temples through the Lens of Disability Studies and Mobility Design

Modern archaeological scholarship typically overlooks the experiences of people with disabilities, assuming that ancient societies, like contemporary ones, focused on the able-bodied. However, recent developments in the field have demonstrated the possibility of uncovering previously hidden aspects, such as prostheses and votive offerings related to disabilities at healing shrines. Nevertheless, excavations and material culture interpretations still often neglect the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities in antiquity. This article proposes a novel approach that integrates disability studies and mobility design into archaeology to shed light on the lives of the disabled. It applies these concepts to examine access to temples for people with disabilities in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Canaan/Israel, serving as a proof of concept to show that archaeologists can uncover insights into disability by understanding the theological underpinnings of religious site construction.

A preliminary report of the excavation at Spitzkloof D rockshelter, Namaqualand, South Africa

This paper describes the first excavations of Spitzkloof D rockshelter located in the semi-arid desert of northern Namaqualand, South Africa. The site is in a dry river valley 30 km south of the Orange River, which currently acts as a lifeline for pastoralists with mixed sheep and goat herds. A surface survey of the site revealed pottery, lithics, domesticate remains, ostrich eggshell (OES) fragments and jewellery, glass beads and iron fragments. The stratigraphy is complex reflecting multiple occupations with six layers consisting of large hearths, ash deposits, and multiple pits, some with potential votive (faunal) offerings in their base. Faunal analysis reveals a broad subsistence strategy consisting of low-intensity sheep-keeping combined with the hunting of wild species found on the landscape today. The presence of Equus zebra, a locally extinct water obligate species, suggests occupation during a climatic period that was more humid than today. Radiocarbon dates from the upper layers confirm a Little Ice Age occupation between AD 1667-1936, when the region was cooler and wetter, and a peak in radiocarbon dates indicates a population pulse in the region. Glass trade beads, iron implements, OES beads, as well as fish remains and a limpet shell, potentially indicate that the people occupying Spitzkloof D were part of an extensive trade/interaction network. Future analysis will include increasing sample sizes through continued excavation, detailed lithic analysis, and further radiocarbon dating.