Votive Keimelia from Crete: Homeric Perspectives on a 7th-Century Deposit of Curated Objects

Recent excavations at Anavlochos in eastern Crete revealed votive material, consisting mostly of female figurines, deposited in natural rock cavities of a mountain ridge. One cavity stands out from the rest of the deposit for its anomalous finds, which notably include a Minoan sealstone. The various offerings from this "sealstone cavity," all curated objects, were probably deposited in the 7th century b.c. An examination of the use and meaning of curated objects (keimelia) in the Homeric epics shows that they could represent substitutes for a missing person—a possible interpretation for the finds from the sealstone cavity.