2023-11-22 21:00:33
Updated Wednesday, November 22, 2023 – 20:00
They find in Casas del Turuuelo remains of 52 animals sacrificed in the 5th century BC. C. There were cows, bulls, a dog… And above all horses, an animal that symbolized status, power and fertility
Quidos bones in the courtyard of Casas del TuruueloBuilding Tarteso
The Tartsian culture, considered by the Greeks to be the first civilization of the West, developed in the south of Spain and has one of the main windows opened by archaeologists to reconstruct it in the Casas del Turuuelo site, in Guarea (Badajoz).
In this enclave dating back to the 5th century BC, they have found evidence of mass animal sacrifices, a rite that they performed regularly, as reported in a study published this Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. A Spanish team has examined a total of 6,770 bones belonging to to 52 animals that were sacrificed and found in 2017 in the patio of the Casas del Turuuelo building.
“It was a surprising find due to the amount of bone remains of animals and the high degree of definition of the activities that had been carried out there. However, we knew about the use of animals in various rituals practiced by Iron Age communities. in other peninsular sites, such as the Cancho Roano sanctuary (in Zalamea de la Serena, in Badajoz)”, María Pilar Iborra, main author of this study and researcher at the Valencian Institute of Conservation, Restoration and Research (IVCR+), tells this newspaper. Yo).
For these rituals elegan adult animals instead of young specimens, and the importance of fire is evidenced by the presence of burned plant and animal remains. The Casas del Turuuelo also present unique characteristics compared to other sites, such as the great abundance of sacrificed horses, according to the authors.
There were mainly quidos (horses), but also pigs, cows, bulls and a dog. Except for the horses, the rest of the animals have marks that suggest that they were processed and consumed during some type of ritual: “The quids do not present marks of consumption. We have only identified marks related to the sacrifice of the animals and their evisceration. They were deposited complete and in a provision structured according to very precise conditions,” says Iborra via email.
So, aade, “andThe set of sacrificed animals is not an exponent of the cattle herd of the Tartsian peoples, but rather the product of a selection oriented to the ritual. practiced in the building. “They selected cows as the most valuable part of their livestock and to a lesser extent cows, bulls and pigs.”
The symbolism of the horse
And the choice of the horse is also loaded with symbolism: “During the Iron Age it constituted a symbol of status and power, used for different purposes such as shooting, transportation, in war. It is related to the elites and appears mostly in cultural contexts. “, as sanctuaries, necropolises and, to a lesser extent, in towns. At that time it was also considered a symbol of fertility and at the same time of the transition towards death,” explains Iborra, who points out that “its use as a source of food during the Peninsular Iron Age is sporadic.”
According to details, different episodes of sacrifice and deposit of animals took place, since they have been able to differentiate “three large phases of accumulation of sacrificed animals. In the first two, the sacrifice and deposit of 45 animals occurs. In the last phase, seven animals are sacrificed. and, furthermore, a ritual banquet is held“.
Ritual practices with animals, explains this researcher, have been documented since prehistory, especially in the funerary setting, “although it was during the Iron Age when rituals with animals acquired greater complexity, being common both in the funerary setting, in sanctuaries and in domestic contexts.”
The sacrifices at this site in Badajoz were carried out exclusively with animals, since according to Iborra, “to date no archaeological evidence has ever been found linking Tartessos with human sacrifice practices. In fact, In Tartessos there is special care for the treatment of the deceased, Cremation being the main burial ritual within this culture. The bones, the result of cremation, were placed in an urn, next to the trousseau, which was later buried in a grave.
Regarding the religion that was professed in Tartessos, he admits that they do not have much information, although there is some evidence at the site, such as the bovid skin altars that connect it with the Tartassian sanctuaries of the Guadalquivir valley and with the religion. Phoenicia: “In fact, although Many researchers and colleagues have already named the Casas del Turuuelo building as a possible sanctuary, From the team that works at the site we prefer to be cautious and wait for the progress of the investigations to be able to define the functionality of this enclave,” he points out.
As the researcher recalls, the excavations carried out by Sebastin Celestino and Esther Rodrguez (IAM-CSIC) at the Casas del Turuuelo site have been of great importance for understanding the Tartsian culture: “The building located in the Vega Media del Guadiana belongs to “a restricted category of large Tartsian constructions from the Iron Age covered by mounds, which has allowed it to be preserved in excellent condition.”
For Pilar Iborra, it is about “one of the most important deposits in the Iberian Peninsula for the architectural techniques it displays, for the magnificent state of conservation and for having been documented for the first time in the entire Mediterranean a sequence of animal sacrifices, among which the quidos stand out.
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