Ritual practices, food offerings and animal sacrifices. Votive deposits of the Temple of the Kothon (Motya): a quantitative and distributive analysis of finds

Votive deposits in the Temple of the Kothon devoted to Baal, excavated by Rome La Sapienza University Expedition to Motya in recent years, provide a highly representa- tive set of data for considering religious and cultural features of Phoenicians’ culture in the West. The analysis of faunal and malacological remains, and the study of items and pottery found inside such deposits, brought new clues for disentangling the procedures and the meanings of ritual customs and cult practices. Fruits and food offerings, as well as animal slaughter performed in the sacred area give back a clear picture of Phoenician religious traditions as reelaborated in western Sicily.