Science Art: Gold plaques (items 9-14 in catalogue), by Ian Richardson, The British Museum, 2012

Scientific illustration of ancient Roman gold plaques.
Scientific illustration of ancient Roman gold plaques.

Scientific illustration of ancient Roman gold plaques.Click to embiggen

Treasure! Literally! A hoard of Roman gold and silver, including jewelry, figurines, and a lot of these votive “leaf” plaques.

A votive plaque like these was part of a religious offering, a small, thin wafer of gold or silver. From the description of item #8 on Wikimedia Commons:

9) Slender gold votive plaque, now detached from its uppermost position on the stack of six gold plaques. Embossed in the centre is a schematically-rendered slender gabled shrine, with a volute-ornament at the apex of the gable. In the shrine stands Minerva, lightly turned to her left, holding a spear in her right hand and a shield in the left, and wearing a crested helmet. Above the shrine is a simple leaf-marked finial. Beneath is a punctim inscription in a tiny ansate panel. The basal tab has been squashed back against itself. Together with a little damage, this has obscured part of the inscription, which appears to read

CARIAT IA REST VSL M

indicating that a person named Cariatus (or Cariatia, or similar) dedicated the plaque in fulfilment of a vow.
Height 135.3 mm. Weight 5.7 g.

Though they’re not sure why it was buried, it seems likely that the whole hoard consisted of offerings to a shrine of Minerva… although some of the items are engraved to a goddess named Sena or Senuna.