Archaeologists in Italy have dug down deeper into a hot spring that was used, over two millennia ago, by a people known as the Etruscans as a sacred place to leave their votive offerings.
Located at San Casciano dei Bagni, a municipality located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Rome, the spring started being used for votive offerings, or offerings given in hopes of divine protection or intervention, as early as the third century B.C., according to a translated statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture. The people who used it were known as the Etruscans, who thrived in Italy from around 2,600 years ago. The Etruscans were gradually conquered and assimilated by the Roman Republic as it expanded.
