ABSTRACT

The religious rituals of the middle and late Latène periods (c. 250–25/15 BC) were subject to local and regional differences regarding the choice of sites, as well as the rites practised. At some sites it is possible to observe over an extended period of time a gradual evolution from blood sacrifice to offerings of objects, and finally to offerings of coins. In favourable conditions, based on the material found and the way it had been treated, we can identify what sort of cult was practised, and whether it was a communal or an individual offering. While actual offerings of coins can be a proxy for the value of an object, or even a symbol for it, at some sites it is clear that coins were offered as objects in their own right.