eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Apart from physical structures, much of the interpretation of a site as having religious
significance is based on items being explicable as votive objects (no. 11 & 12 on Renfrew’s
list of correlates 1985, p.19). From anthropological as well as archaeological investigations
(Carmichael et al. 1994), the idea of offerings has been shown to be universal in time and
space. Studies show tremendous uniformity in the types of artefacts used in sacred activity,
for example, miniatures, figurines/dolls, highly portable objects and also the use of bronze
and copper, which lend weight to the interpretation of such artefacts in the LBA and EIA as
‘ritual’ in nature and their classification as votive objects. The anthropological and
ethnographic evidence for using bronze or copper votive items illuminate further the more or
less universal practice of dedicating artefacts in this metal in sanctuaries from the LPG
onwards, for example at Isthmia (Morgan 1999a). Although this practice may have
something to do with changing economic circumstances and the changing role of bronze
within society where iron was becoming the utilitarian metal (Snodgrass 2000, p.221; cf
Kayafa 2006; ), there are many testimonies throughout modern and ancient societies that hold
a belief in the magical properties of bronze, copper and even tin (Sheridan, 2003). These
factors may have contributed to the ubiquity of such items, alongside the physical properties
that rendered bronze easier to decorate (Snodgrass, 2000: 237).
Turning briefly to the literary record, it has often been used to elucidate the archaeological
record and, although there are no contemporary literary sources, the later record has still
proved thought provoking in many instances. In Arkadia, Pausanias in particular has been
used repeatedly in support of identifying religious sites of the LBA, EIA and later, with
varying degrees of success. His work has been used to identify sites as having religious
importance when other evidence is very sparse indeed such as at Vlakherna-Petra (8.23.4-8),
Vounon (8.44.7) and perhaps Loukas, (8.8.1) and more successfully in the case of the temple
of Athena Alea at Tegea. Here, Pausanias, testifies to a tradition of an early sanctuary at the
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