We presentresults of an archaeoastronomical study of the Iberian cave-sanctuary of La Nariz (Moratalla, Murcia, Spain). The chronology of the site has been established between the third century BCE to the first century CE, however, there are material evidences of its use from the Late Bronze Age. The cave has a striking symmetrical morphology, with two main almost parallel long cavities of similar sizes and proportions. Both cavities have water springs, and carved basins to collect water at their innermost areas. We have found that the northerly cavity is facing the point of the horizon where the winter solstice sunset takes place, producing an striking illumination phenomenon onto the carved basin. On the other hand, the southerly cavity is slightly tilted to the south with respect to the northerly one, facing the moonset at the major southern lunastice or Venus at its southernmost setting.

We present results of an archaeoastronomical study of the Iberian cave-sanctuary of La Cueva de la Lobera in Castellar (Jaén, Spain), whose foundation has been dated to the second half of the fourth century BCE. The sanctuary consists of several terraces, a cave and a rock shelter that have been artificially modified. The main axis of the cave is oriented along the east-west direction. A small niche at the innermost part of the cave is illuminated at sunset around the equinoxes through an opening located at the western edge of the cavity. We have photographically documented the evolution of the illumination pattern inside the cave, and have found that the shapes of the niche and the patch of light show the maximum coincidence at the temporal mid-point between the solstices, one or two days from the exact date of the astronomical equinox. Finally, we speculate about the similarity between the shape of the patch of light just before sunset and the side face of one of the most common kinds of votive figurines found in this and other contemporary Iberian sanctuaries, which represent schematically an aristocratic female image, which is sometimes assimilated with the image of a feminine deity.

We present results of an archaeoastronomical study of the Iberian cave-sanctuary of La Cueva de la Lobera in Castellar (Jaén, Spain), whose foundation has been dated to the second half of the fourth century BCE. The sanctuary consists of several terraces, a cave and a rock shelter that have been artificially modified. The main axis of the cave is oriented along the east-west direction. A small niche at the innermost part of the cave is illuminated at sunset around the equinoxes through an opening located at the western edge of the cavity. We have photographically documented the evolution of the illumination pattern inside the cave, and have found that the shapes of the niche and the patch of light show the maximum coincidence at the temporal mid-point between the solstices, one or two days from the exact date of the astronomical equinox. Finally, we speculate about the similarity between the shape of the patch of light just before sunset and the side face of one of the most common kinds of votive figurines found in this and other contemporary Iberian sanctuaries, which represent schematically an aristocratic female image, which is sometimes assimilated with the image of a feminine deity.

ANCIENT COSMOLOGIES AND MODERN PROPHETS Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture

Proceedings of the 29th Conference of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC) (Timisoara, 2022), 2024

Isolated at the top of a hill at 900 m with great visibility of the surrounding territory, Sala de Moros is a singular monument in Argamasilla de Calatrava (Ciudad Real, Spain), in northern Pre-Roman Oretania. The main structures consist of a T-shaped chamber covered by blocks of quartzite, which is surrounded by a wall that defined a temenos and it is appreciably different from other nearby structures. This paper presents the results of an archaeoastronomical study that reveals that, besides the implicit symbolism in the election of such an outstanding point in the territory, astronomy may have been integrated in the design of the monument and the development of this outstanding landscape of power. Furthermore, the likely astronomical patterns observed suggest a possible connection between the construction of Sala de Moros with the Iberian aristocracy, while provide a better understanding of the concepts of time in ancient Oretania.

2014

Recent investigations of Danish and Swedish passage graves and their orientation patterns show a dominance of orientation directions which can be explained primarily in relation to full moonrises during the summer period. Both the Danish and Swedish passage graves tend to form clusters. Each cluster has a very similar orientation pattern, and this calls for an astronomical explanation. About 200 Portuguese and Spanish megalithic tombs seem to have similar orientation patterns to the Scandinavian ones; these will be the subject of further studies. A group of megalithic tombs located in West Iberia in central Alentejo and the surrounding area have been chosen for a statistical test case using the same model used for the Scandinavian passage tombs. The test model is based on 1) the Equinoctial Full Moons (EFMs), i.e., the "spring full moon" and the "autumn full moon", 2) the first and last summer full moons (defined as the second full moons in this paper) and 3) the south-ernmost full moon. These are used in the hypothesis for the test case. The model fits 99% of the observations and the test results show a high statistical probability factor p (p = 0.56) when the observed distribution is matched with the model, meaning that the model distribution and the observed distribution likely have the same origin. The comparison between the main body of the observations (98%) and the model is interesting because the probability factor reaches the value of 0.86, which supports the null hypothesis.

Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2018

Along the first millennium BCE and up to the beginning of the Roman conquest at the end of III century BCE, the southeast part of the Iberian Peninsula was colonized by Phoenicians, Greeks and Punics. All these cultures influenced the religious and funereal world of the indigenous peoples. Tartessians and Iberians were the main Protohistoric cultures product of such external influences in this geographical area. In this paper, I review the main results of archaeoastronomical works I have carried out in Protohistoric archaeological sites of the south and southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. These works give pieces of information that provide a diachronic view of the role of astronomy in the ritual during the first millennium BCE. The Tartessian/Phoenician sanctuaries of the Guadalquivir Valley show evidences that the cult to Baal and Astarte may have rituals related to the sun at solstices and Venus at its southernmost setting, respectively. Solstices seem also to be present in the ritual held in coastal sanctuaries of the Andalusian coast and in other early sanctuaries of the Iberian Culture. A change in the astronomical elements of the ritual seems to appear around the IV century BCE. Many Iberian sanctuaries dated at or after that century show equinoctial orientations and/or markers on topogaphic features of the horizon. Iberian cave-sanctuaries tend to be oriented westerly and some of them show orientatons toward the sunset at equinox or solstices. Striking illumination phenomena have been found in some cases, they could have been used as elements in the ritual or even to recreate a perceptive experience of the divine among the Iberians.

Marta Díaz-Guardamino Uribe; Leonardo García Sanjuán and David W. Wheatley (Editors): The Lives of Prehistoric Monuments in Iron Age, Roman and Medieval Europe, 183-204. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015

Over the last decade, new questions have emerged with regard to the complex temporal patterns often seen in Iberian prehistoric monuments. A number of megalithic chamber tombs, menhirs, stelae or rock-art panels have been found to show that, as it occurs in other European regions, their lives were not restricted to the period of time in which they were built or manufactured, but, on the contrary, they extended well into later (or even much later) prehistoric, protohistoric and subsequent historical periods. In this chapter we discuss a number of examples of such patterns, that include successive physical transformations through the incorporation of new architectural or graphic elements and/or through the reorganization of previously existing ones, the accumulation of mnemonic artefacts, as well as layouts and orientations in special landscape settings.

Tagungen des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte Halle Band 12/1, Halle, 2015

Palynological studies on sediments from Central Iberia show palaeoclimatic changes at the end of the third millennium BC as a consequence of the 4.2. ka BP event. In the archaeological record it is at that time when the peak and decline of the Ciempozuelos group, one of the Late Regional Styles of the Bell Beaker culture in Iberia, took place. In this paper we examine both palynological and archaeological data in order to analyse the possible impact of such climatic fluctuations in the cultural dynamics of the prehistoric societies from the Spanish Northern Plateau