The Iron Age saunas of the northwest Iberian Peninsula : an archaeoastronomical perspective
Part of : Mediterranean archaeology & archaeometry : international journal ; Vol.14, No.3, 2014, pages 133-141
Issue:
Pages:
133-141
Abstract:
In some of the Iron Age hillforts of the northwest Iberian Peninsula (“Gallaecia”, in antiquity), public buildings used as saunas have been found. So far some twenty examples are known, in different states of conservation. These are distributed between two separated regional clusters, northern and southern. The southern cases display a single pedra formosa (“beautiful stone”) to define the entrance to the sweat room. In some cases these are richly decorated with “astral” motives. This fact, and the longitudinal pattern of the layout of the buildings, invites a search for eventual astral alignments. 21 saunas (10 northern and 11 southern) were measured. The results confirm the regional difference also in this respect: Only three of the northern saunas show solstitial orientations, but four of the southern are oriented towards the southern lunar standstill and three others towards dates compatible with the mid-season Celtic feasts.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
Iron Age, Gallaecia, Celtic calendar, lunar standstill, saunas, pedras formosas
Notes:
Περιέχει 6 εικόνες και 2 πίνακες.
References (1):
- Alberro, M. and Arnold, B. (eds.) The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula; e-keltoi, vol. 6. http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/index.html Accessed 10/13/2010.Deiss, B. (2008) Zur Struktur und Orientierung der Grabensysteme um die Fürstengrabhügel am Glauberg, Fundberichte aus Hessen, vol. 6, 279-294.Dumézil, G. (1987) La religion romaine archaïque, 2nd ed., Payot, France.García Quintela, M.V. and González-García, A.C. (2010) Campo Lameiro y Peñalba de Villastar: miradas cruzadas sobre lugares de culto prerromanos peninsulares y su romanización. In VI Simposio sobre los Celtíberos: Ritos y Mitos, F. Burillo (ed.), Centro de Estudios Celtibéricos de Segeda, Spain, 113-121.García Quintela, M.V. and González-García, A.C. (2014) Le 1er août à Lugdunum sous l’Empire Romain: bilans et nouvelles perspectives, Revue Archáeologique de l’Est, vol. 63, in press.García Quintela, M.V., González-García, A.C., and Seoane-Veiga Y. (2014) From hillforts to saints: sun tropoi and patterns of Christianization in NW Spain. In Stars and Stones. SEAC 2011 conference, F. Pimenta, N. Ribeiro, F. Silva, N. Campion, A. Joaquinito, L. Tirapicos (eds.), in press.García Quintela, M.V. and Santos Estévez, M. (2008) Santuarios de la Galicia Céltica. Arqueología del paisaje y religiones comparadas en la Edad del Hierro, Ed. Abada, Spain.García Quintela, M.V. and Santos Estévez, M. (2015) Iron Age saunas of northern Portugal: state of the art and research perspectives. Oxford Journal of Archaeology (in press).González-García, A.C., García Quintela, M.V., Belmonte, J.A. and Santos Estévez, M. (2008) Calendaric deer, time reckoning and landscape in NW Spain Iron Age. In, Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, J. Vaiškūnas (ed.) Archaeologia Baltica, vol. 10, Lithuania, 66-70.Guibert de la Vaissière, V. (2003) Les quatre fêtes d’ouverture de saison de l’Irlande ancienne, Editions Armeline, France.Hicks, R. (2009) Cosmography in Tochmarc Étaíne, Journal of Indo-European Studies, vol. 37, 115-129.Le Roux, F. and Guyonvarc’h C.-J. (1995) Les fêtes celtiques, Ouest-France Université, Rennes, France.MacNeill, M. (1962) The Festival of Lugnasa, A Study of the Survival of the Celtic Festival of the Beginning of Harvest. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.McCluskey, S.C. (1989) The mid-quarter days and the historical survival of British folk astronomy, Archaeoastronomy vol. 13, Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 20, S1-S19.Pérez, M. and Burillo, F. (in press) Astronomical alignments in Segeda. In From Alexandria to Al-Iskandariya: Astronomy and Culture in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond, M. Shaltout and O. Fikry (eds.).Romeuf, D. (2011) Le sanctuaire Arverne de Corent et l’Astronomie, http://www.david-romeuf.fr/Archeologie/CorentAstronomie/SanctuaireCorentEtAstronomie.html. Accessed 10/13/2010.Ruggles, C.L.N. (1999) Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Yale University Press. New York, USA.Silva, A.C. da (2007) Pedra formosa: arqueologia experimental. Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Famalicão, Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Portugal.Villa Valdés, Á. (2012) Santuarios urbanos en la Protohistoria cantábrica: algunas consideraciones sobre el significado y función de las saunas castreñas, Boletín del Real Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, vol. 177, 65-102.
