Clay figurines caches found underwater: A phoenician ex voto practice?

In this study results of two underwater excavations in the Eastern Mediterranean, namely in the vicinity of Shavei Zyyon (Linder 1973:182-187) and Tyre (Seco-Alvarez 2011:79-94) where a hoard of clay figurines dating to the Persian Period and associated with Phoenician are dealt with. There may be other hoards, although they are represented by examples sold and bought by private collectors and museums or have, so far, not been published. Both hoards have been associated with possible wrecks, although in both cases, no signs of the wrecks were located. We propose yet another consideration of the hoards which are not associated with shipwrecks, namely a practice of mariners' ex-voto.