The votive offerings, though much scattered and broken are numerous and homogeneous enough to furnish interesting information. The bulk of them belong to the archaic period and testify to the popularity and prosperity of the Dictaean sanctuary from the seventh to the fifth century. The scarcity of later objects is in harmony with the scarcity of architectural remains of the later temple. It is clear that the terracotta decorations and votive offerings of the earlier period must have been buried at the time of rebuilding, while those of the later period have only survived by exception. Among these earlier anathemata bronze shields both large and small and bronze tripods and bowls predominate precisely as they did in the cave of Zeus excavated by Prof. Halbherr and Dr. Hatzidakes on Mount Ida.