Archaeologists in Italy have dug down deeper into a hot spring that was used, over two millennia ago, by the Etruscans as a sacred place to leave their votive offerings. Located at San Casciano dei Bagni, a municipality located about 75 miles 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. 

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. Even after the Romans took full control of the area, the spring kept being used for offerings and some of the excavated remains have inscriptions written in Latin.