The Tartessian 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 Turuñuelo site, in Guareña (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 52 animals that were sacrificed and found in 2017 in the patio of the Casas del Turuñuelo building.

“It was a surprising find due to the amount of animal bone remains 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 tells this newspaper. Iborra, main author of this study and researcher at the Valencian Institute of Conservation, Restoration and Research (IVCR+i).

For these rituals they chose 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 Turuñuelo also present unique characteristics compared to other sites, such as the great abundance of sacrificed horses, according to the authors.

There were mainly equidae (horses), but also pigs, cows, bulls and a dog. Except for horses, the rest of the animals have marks that suggest that they were processed and consumed during some type of ritual: “Equids do not have consumption marks.”. We have only identified marks related to the sacrifice of the animals and their evisceration.. They were deposited complete and in a structured arrangement according to very precise conditions,” says Iborra via email..

For this reason, he adds, “the set of sacrificed animals is not an exponent of the livestock herd of the Tartessian peoples, but rather the product of a selection oriented to the ritual practiced in the building.”. “They selected horses 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, such 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 food source during the peninsular Iron Age is sporadic.”.

According to details, different episodes of sacrifice and deposits of animals took place, since they have been able to differentiate “three major 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, in addition, a ritual banquet is held.”.

Ritual practices with animals, explains this researcher, have been documented since prehistory, especially in the funerary field, “although it will be during the Iron Age when rituals with animals acquire greater complexity, being common both in the funerary field, in sanctuaries and in domestic contexts”.

The sacrifices at this Badajoz site were carried out exclusively with animals, since according to Iborra, “to date archaeological evidence has never been found that relates Tarteso to human sacrifice practices.”. In fact, in Tartessos there is special care for the treatment of the deceased, with 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 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 Tartessian sanctuaries of the Guadalquivir valley and with the religion Phoenician: “In fact, although many researchers and colleagues have already named the Casas del Turuñuelo building as a possible sanctuary, the team that works at the site prefers 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 Sebastián Celestino and Esther Rodríguez (IAM-CSIC) at the Casas del Turuñuelo site have been of great importance for understanding the Tartessian culture: “The building located in the Vega Media del Guadiana belongs to a restricted category of large Tartessian constructions from the Iron Age covered by tumuli, which has allowed it to be preserved in excellent condition”.

For Pilar Iborra, it is “one of the most important sites in the Iberian Peninsula due to the architectural techniques it displays, its magnificent state of conservation and because a sequence of animal sacrifices has been documented for the first time in the entire Mediterranean, among which that highlight the equines”.