Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T13:07:33.692Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Astronomy, culture and landscape in the Early Iron Age in the Ebro Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2011

Manuel Pérez Gutiérrez ,
Jordi Diloli Fons ,
David Bea Castaño  and
Samuel Sardà Seuma
Manuel Pérez Gutiérrez
Affiliation:
Higher Polytechnical School of Ávila, University of Salamanca, C/ Hornos Caleros 50, 05003 Ávila, Spain email: manolope@usal.es
Jordi Diloli Fons
Affiliation:
Research Group of the Seminar of Protohistory and Archaeology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain email: david.bea@urv.cat, jordi.diloli@urv.cat, samuel.sarda@urv.cat
David Bea Castaño
Affiliation:
Research Group of the Seminar of Protohistory and Archaeology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain email: david.bea@urv.cat, jordi.diloli@urv.cat, samuel.sarda@urv.cat
Samuel Sardà Seuma
Affiliation:
Research Group of the Seminar of Protohistory and Archaeology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain email: david.bea@urv.cat, jordi.diloli@urv.cat, samuel.sarda@urv.cat
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Archaeological excavations carried out at Turó del Calvari (Tarragona, Spain) have revealed a protohistoric building interpreted as one of the earliest enclosures of power operating during the Early Iron Age in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The structure is exceptional in several respects: the techniques of construction, the materials used, and the topographic situation. The building is perfectly integrated in the landscape and has an exquisite geometrical design, with measurement units based on the Iberian foot. The intended beauty in having used the golden ratio in its construction and an orientation that is both stellar and solar demonstrates the existence at that time of a complete series of mechanisms of representation and territorial control. This was based on the use of rituals and feasts as elements of political cohesion by an emergent elite within a process that reproduced a scaled-down Mediterranean cultural system in an indigenous space.

Keywords

archaeoastronomycalendarspowercult placeslandscapewinecommensalityfeasts
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 7 , Symposium S278: “Oxford IX” International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy , January 2011 , pp. 382 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

Bea, D., Diloli, J., & Vilaseca, A. 2002, El Turó del Calvari (Vilalba dels Arcs, Terra Alta). Un recinte singular de la primera edat del ferro al curs inferior de l'Ebre. Paper presented at Ilercavònia 3. I Jornades d'Arqueologia. Ibers a l'Ebre. Recerca i interpretació, Tivissa, 23 i 24 de novembre de 2001.Google Scholar
Bea, D. & Diloli, J. 2005, Elements de representació durant la Primera Edat del Ferro al curs inferior de l'Ebre: el recinte del Turó del Calvari (Vilalba dels Arcs, Terra Alta). Revista d'Arqueologia de Ponent 15, 179–198.Google Scholar
Escacena, J. L. 2009, La Egersis de Melqart. Hipótesis sobre una teología solar cananea. Complutum 20 (2), 95–120.Google Scholar
Moret, P. 2002, Tossal Montañés y La Gessera: ?‘residencias aristocráticas del Ibérico Antiguo en la cuenca media del Matarraña? Paper presented at Ilercavònia 3. I Jornades d'Arqueologia. Ibers a l'Ebre. Recerca i interpretació, Tivissa, 23 i 24 de novembre de 2001.Google Scholar
Pérez, M. 2009, Astronomía y geometría en la Vettonia. Complutum 20 (2), 141–164.Google Scholar
Pérez, M. 2010, Astronomía en los Castros Celtas de la Provincia de Ávila, Institución Gran Duque de Alba, Diputación Provincial de Ávila, Ávila.Google Scholar
Rafel, N. 2006, Sobre el canvi en la Protohistòria. Un cas d'estudi: la primera edat del ferro com a fonament del món ibèric al Matarranya i l'Algars. In Belarte, M. C. & Sanmartí, J. (eds), “De les comunitats locals als estats arcaics: la formació de les societats complexes a la costa del Mediterrani occidental”, Arqueomeditarrània 9, 135–144.Google Scholar
Sardà, S. 2007, Els Materials Ceràmics del Turó del Calvari (Vilalba dels Arcs, Terra Alta). Pràctiques de Consum Ritual a la Primera Meitat del Segle VI anE, Trabajo de Investigación, DEA, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona.Google Scholar
Sardà, S. 2008, Servir el vino. Algunas observaciones sobre la adopción del oinochoe en el curso inferior del Ebro (s. VII–VI a.C.). Trabajos de Prehistoria 65 (2), 95–115.Google Scholar
Sardà, S. 2010, Pràctiques de Consum Ritual al Curs Inferior de l'Ebre (s. VII–VI anE). Comensalitat, Ideologia i Canvi Social, Doctoral thesis, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona (www.tdx.cat/TDX-1013110-161238).Google Scholar