The oracle had gained great fame already in the 8th century BC that spread beyond the borders of the Greek world and even kings of the East consulted the oracle asking for prophecies and dedicating valuable gifts. A discovery in 1939 corroborates the accounts of the ancient sources: during the removal of the Sacred Way slabs, two pits were unearthed filled with precious artefacts. They date between the 8th and the 5th century BC and were partly burnt, thereby pointing to their destruction by fire in the mid-5th century BC.

Three chryselephantine statues, possibly depicting the Apollonian triad (Apollo, Artemis, Leto) are particularly impressive and constitute the sole surviving examples of chryselephantine sculpture. Equally imposing is the life-size silver bull statue made, consisting of a large number of silver sheets secured to a wooden core.

Superb examples of minor arts of Ionia are the ivory figurine of a god or hero taming an animal, as well as the thousands of bone fragments restored into individual figures or compositions.