2023-11-24 21:30:53
About 2,500 years ago, the inhabitants of the Casas del Turuñuelo building (Guareña, Badajoz, Spain) carried out a unique ritual in the patio of this place.
This archaeological gem from the 5th century BC was found in 2017 and, since then, its study has led to new discoveries that are changing our knowledge of the Tartessian culture.
Now, an investigation led by the Institute of Archeology (IAM) based in Mérida and dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain, determines that the largest animal sacrifice discovered in the western Mediterranean region during the first Iron Age , with bone remains of more than 50 animals, is the result of the ritual practices carried out by the last communities of Tartessos.
“The results of the zooarchaeological study of the bone remains of 52 animals and the microstratigraphic analysis show that this mass sacrifice was part of a series of rituals carried out in the last years of the building until its abandonment, when it was intentionally sealed at the end of the 5th century BC under a mound 90 meters in diameter and six meters high,” explain Sebastián Celestino and Esther Rodríguez, directors of the excavations and researchers from the IAM, a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Government of Extremadura.
Researchers have identified the challenges of six cattle, four pigs, one dog and 41 horses. Taphonomic and microstratigraphic tests and radiocarbon dating show that the animals were deposited in the courtyard of the Tartessian enclave throughout three phases. In the first, there are indications that the animals were partially exposed to the elements, since bones modified by the action of scavengers have been found. In the second and third phases, the skeletons are complete and in anatomical connection, suggesting rapid burial. “In the last phase, together with the sacrifice of two horses, the remains of a banquet that included the consumption of bovine and pig meat were deposited,” comment María Pilar Iborra and Silvia Albizuri, researchers at the IVCR+i (Valencià Institute of Conservation). , Restauració i Investigació) and the Institute of Archeology of the University of Barcelona (IAUB) who have led the study and who were linked to the IAM, within the research project of the Government of Extremadura, while part of it was developed.
In addition to animal remains, this work includes the discovery of cremated vegetables that could have been part of offerings and objects associated with symbolic activities, such as sheep’s hats. “On the other hand, the arrangement of the animal corpses suggests an intention in the exhibition and staging of sacrifices,” the researchers add.
These works have been carried out within the framework of two research projects: on the one hand, the ‘Building Tarteso 2.0’ project and, on the other hand, the ‘Study of the animal catastrophe at the Casas del Turuñuelo site (Guareña, Badajoz )’.
The results are the result of the interdisciplinary work of Spanish and foreign researchers belonging to the IAM, the IVCR+i, the IAUB, the University of Jaén, the Center d’Anthropobiologie et de Génomique de Toulouse, the Université Paul Sabatier, the Mixed Center (among the Complutense University of Madrid and the Carlos III Health Institute) of Human Evolution and Behavior, the University of Córdoba, the University of Lleida, the Institució Milà i Fontanals (IM, of the CSIC) and the University of Extremadura.
“This study highlights the role of mass animal sacrifice in European societies of the First Iron Age. Specifically, animal sacrifice practices and ritual behavior at the Tartessian site of Casas del Turuñuelo (Badajoz, Spain) Furthermore, the protagonism of equids in these sacrifices is important, a fact that shows the relevance of these species (horses, donkeys and their hybrids) in the economic systems and culture of Iron Age communities,” the researchers conclude. researchers.
Reconstruction of part of the archaeological site of Casas de Turuñuelo. (Image: Building Tartessus)
Building Tartessus
Building Tarteso is a project of the State Research Agency. Its main objective is to characterize the Tartessian material culture through the architectural analysis of the large adobe buildings excavated in recent decades.
The Construyendo Tarteso team, which began its first excavation campaign in 2015, at the Casas del Turuñuelo site located in Las Vegas Altas del Guadiana, concluded the V excavation campaign last June. In this campaign, the work focused on the eastern sector of the site, where the existence of a large room was discovered in which they were able to recover, among other objects, a batch of ivories of Etruscan origin and the remains of the first reliefs. figurative figures of Tartessus. The good state of conservation of this building makes it the best preserved in the western Mediterranean, which makes it possible to characterize construction techniques and architectural solutions that to date had not been documented in a Tartessian site.
The study is titled “Mass Animal Sacrifice at Casas del Turuñuelo (Guareña, Spain): a Unique Tartessian (Iron Age) Site in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula.” And it has been published in the academic journal PLoS One. (Source: Alejandro Parrilla García / CSIC)
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