Puteus altissimus

The analysis of the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources revealed that man-made wells and shafts outside sanctuaries reflected religious behaviour only to a limited degree, quite in contrast to natural springs. From a linguistic point of view there was a differentiation between puteus and fons, the latter having more religious potential due to its possible origin from supernatural powers. The recipients were not only chthonic and aquatic gods, but a wide variety of Roman, Oriental, and nameless deities. What was decisive was the character as a safe underground hiding place, not the element of water. Five recurrent deposition patterns were recognised. All in all, the well deposits always belonged to the ultimate use phase of a shaft and shared more features with finds in sanctuaries and graves than with finds in rivers and springs. Finds deposited in wells were a characteristic symptom of periods of crisis [e. g. abandonment of settlement/fortress] with a focus in the 3rd century A.D. Their protagonists were - according to the deities involved - mainly local inhabitants, amongst them particularly women and soldiers. Well finds represent the sphere of provincial-Roman, not of Celtic religion.