Culto y rito en cuevas: modelos territoriales de vivencia y experimentación de lo sagrado, más allá de la materialidad (ss. V-II a.n.e.)

Abstract

In the Alto Guadalquivir between the 5th and the 2nd centuries BCE we find different kinds of worship places in caves. They have an intrinsic relationship with the territorial model in which they are inserted. By analysing them, we aim to point out the heterogeneity of their features and the variability of their evolution in different local historical processes. They range from the territorial shrines of Collado de los Jardines (Santa Elena) and Cueva de la Lobera (Castellar), in the territory of Cástulo, to the recently excavated suburban sanctuary of La Piedra del Águila (Orcera) and the urban model of the oppidum of Puente Tablas (Jaén). In all these cases we discuss the different factors related to the worship process, including mobility, the scale of participation and the motivation involved in it.
The heterogeneity of the functions and mythical stories recreated in the caves is discussed through the cases of hierophany detected at the sanctuaries in question. We emphasise the role of the cave as a place of emotional mediation built and anthropised for such a purpose. It was where astronomical events, such as the equinoxes, played a decisive role in measuring the periods of communication with the divinity and the carrying out of rites that ratified the measurement of the seasons and agrarian cycles, as well as formalising the scenario for the mythical narrations themselves.