At Skara Brae there was a small wet, depressed area in the interior. Water collects there and people had thrown coins into it. There seems to be an internal sense that we have that when you go to an old place or a sacred place that some gift must be given. No one makes us do this, we just do. It is a gift to the ancestors or spirits of a place. It may be a propitiation, but I think it is just an instinct that seems appropriate to many of us. Even saying it brings luck or grants a wish, as with a fountain is not all that different. I've never had the least interest in the custom, but in that setting and reading about ancestor worship and nature spirits all week I suddenly got it for the first time. I still didn't leave a coin, but I had a nice conversation about it with some young men.
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