Archaeologists have discovered rare evidence of ritualized animal sacrifice at the Casas del Trunuelo archaeological site in southwestern Spain. This site dates back to the 5th century BC and offers a glimpse into its history. tartesian culture of the Iberian Peninsula. Regarding this discovery, The study was published in an open access journal on November 22 PLoS ONE.
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Tartessos is Southern Iberian Peninsula, 9th to 5th century BC About the Iron Age. Archaeologists believed that their culture was a mix of characteristics of local Iberian groups and Phoenicians who came from countries on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. They had a writing system called Tartessian. About 97 inscriptions In Tartessian.
Archaeological evidence of animal sacrifice is difficult to obtain in the western Mediterranean region where Tartessos lived. However, written sources include homer’s Odyssey Record of animal sacrifice Mediterranean these days. Gaps between the written record and archaeological evidence make it difficult for archaeologists to clearly understand what protocols and patterns were behind the practices here.
Pilar Iborra Erezsaid study co-author and archaeologist from Spain’s Valenciano Conservation Institute Restaurant et Investigación. pop science He said the ruins of Casas del Turnuelo are special because of the “excellent state of preservation of the buildings and their contents.” In this case, there is an accumulation of bone remains evidence of ritual activity. ”
In this new research, Eres and her team studied examples of animal sacrifice from Iron Age buildings dating to the end of the 5th century BC. Excavation began in 2015, and 6,770 bones belonging to 52 animals were examined and dated. The animals were primarily adult horses, but also included cows, pigs, and a dog. There are signs that the bodies were intentionally buried, which is one clue that they were sacrificed.
they are animals buried in three consecutive phases. In his first two stages, the skeleton turned out to be almost complete and unchanged. In the third stage, all skeletons except the horse’s show evidence of being processed for food. This suggests that this ritual was probably accompanied by a meal.
a Case Study As in this case, the team was able to establish some important details about the ritual protocols at Casas del Trunuelo in order to determine what was behind it. The bones indicate that an adult animal, rather than a young one, was chosen for sacrifice. The presence of burned plant and animal remains indicates that fire played a role in these rituals.
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Casas del Turnuelo also has some unique features compared to other Mediterranean sites, such as the large number of sacrificial horses.
“The horse carcass was discovered as a result of a systematic excavation of the courtyard, one of the areas of this building,” says Eres. “This is where animal sacrifices were made when Iron Age societies used the building.
There seemed to be space used repeatedly over several years for various sacrificial rituals.
The research team was surprised to find that the deposits here were so perfectly preserved that they were able to confirm that they depicted what they believed to be accurate photographs of the rituals that took place there. They hope to complete this research by applying new methods to study the samples.
“Archaeology allows us to learn about many aspects of the life of past societies,” says Eres. “We conducted a complete study of this equid group by applying innovative methodologies such as computed tomography, paleoparasitology, and isotope analysis to study diet, motility, and ancient DNA. The purpose is to do so.”