THE IBERIAN URBAN SANCTUARY OF PUENTE TABLAS (JAÉN, SPAIN)

Abstract

This paper presents a complex Iberian sanctuary from the archaeological diggings realized in the Iberian oppidum of Puente Tablas (Jaén, Spain). The sanctuary, dated form the first half of the sixth century BC, covers an area over 300m2 and is divided in three different terraces with elements as significant as a shrine shaping a bull’s skin, a set of four caves or a water canal that goes across the sanctuary from north to south. The underlying idea in this sanctuary and the findings that surrounds it, is the representation of an annual cycle from the illumination of the Stela (as a representation of a goddess) along the corridor of the door that gives access to the oppidum in the days of the equinox in the Sunrise, producing a spectacular play the light and shadows. To complete the mentioned play of light during such a particular date, the dis-position of the fourth cave, along with its access, allows the entrance of the sunrays only in the dawn of the equinotial days, and just after the Stela, illuminated in the edge of the Sunrise, is cover with the shadows produced by the gate in the wall.