Christiane-Marie Cantwell, University of Cambridge
This paper will re-examine the figurative votive assemblage of the Forêt d'Hallate sanctuary (Oise, France), arguing that the form and iconography of these statuettes reveal an entanglement of Roman and indigenous norms unique to this site. Its conclusions suggest a new reading of the sanctuary focused not on healing, as commonly assumed due to the presence of figurative votives, but on community and power negotiation.
The Forêt d'Hallate sanctuary, excavated in 1867 (Caix de Saint Aymour) and from 1996 to 1999 (Durand), was established in the mid-first century CE ex nihilo in Belgica, about 65 kilometers north of Paris. It lacks a water source, despite this being an essential characteristic of Gallo-Roman healing sanctuaries (Wech). 363 figurative votives have been uncovered at Halatte, one of the largest deposits of ritual statuettes in Roman Gaul. These votives are particularly interesting because of their stylistic and iconographic breadth (Durand, Wigodner).
However, this assemblage has been neglected since Durand and Finon, who relegated the votives to outcomes of Romanization. Since this publication, Romanization has been abandoned, leading to the development of various models of change, such a creolization (Webster), globalization (Hingley), colonialism (Dietler), and post-colonial theories (Gardner). In the past decade, votive studies have further dismantled the de facto healing interpretation of figurative votives by contextualizing them within their cultural and religious landscapes (Cazanove, Hughes, Draycott and Graham). Durand and Finon's explanation of the Hallate votives as "Romanized" healing objects is thus no longer sufficient.
In this paper, I will focus on two types of statuettes in this assemblage: 'exposition' votives and disembodied heads. The former category, unique to this sanctuary, depicts men lifting the hems of their Gallic tunics to expose enlarged testicles. The large number of these statuettes in the assemblage, including "exposed" swaddled babies, in conjunction with their singularity in the Roman Empire, suggests that they could have marked local belonging and solidarity. However, they are generally carved in a Roman style, revealing an entanglement of local and Roman norms. The second category, heads, make up the majority of the Hallate assemblage. Human heads were ritually significant in this sanctuary; a decapitated skull was deposited in the fanum at its foundation and continually exposed through its use. This suggests that these statuettes were linked to the Gallic practice of head hunting, a symbol of martial, male, and indigenous power. However, the equal distribution of male and female heads and of Roman and Indigenous styles, illustrates an adaptation of this form to suit dedicants' needs, altering their meaning away from pre-conquest martial prowess towards a more general sense of religious or social power.
In both examples, cultural norms were adopted and adapted by dedicators to articulate regionally specific wishes for power and identity to their deity. This reading of the votives, combined with the lack of water sources and the ritual deposition of a human head suggests an alternative, and innovative, understanding of the site as a space of socio-cultural negotiation and self-definition, both within the community and beyond.