First, at a very shallow depth, the fragment of what looked like a stone face appeared, perhaps that of an animal, a monster, thought the archaeologists of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) Sebastián Celestino and Esther Rodríguez, directors of the Tartessian site. of Casas del Turuñuelo, which is unearthing a monumental building from the 5th century BC in Guareña (Badajoz). But shortly after, five other fragments appeared that were part of a definitively human face, although they only revealed a forehead, a chin and an ear next to which a braid fell, a symbol of the transition of warriors towards adulthood, very common in the protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula. By then, they could already sense the magnitude of a find that was completed with two other fragmented faces and a forehead with a diadem and which represent the first sculptures found in the context of Tartessus, the fascinating culture that dominated the southwest of the peninsula between the 9th centuries. and V before our era, and which until then was considered aniconic. These pieces are not only human representations, but they are also of a beauty and artistic quality similar to that of the best works that were produced at that time on the other side of the Mediterranean, in Greece and Etruria (central Italy).
These Tartessian sculptures, whose discovery went around the world in April 2023, can be seen until February 2 at the National Archaeological Museum (MAN), in Madrid. Admission to the exhibition, which debuts the museum’s new archaeological news room, is free. Along with the sculptures, posters and a video give context to the pieces.
That is, the excavation of a two-story building from the first half of the first millennium BC, unique in the western Mediterranean. A monumental construction that could have served as an economic, political and religious center for a fairly prosperous area – given its size, architectural complexity and the fabulous remains that are emerging – but that at some point around the 5th century BC was completely destroyed. destroyed, it seems, by its own inhabitants. They held a great ceremony – which included the sacrifice of fifty valuable animals, especially horses -, destroyed everything, burned it and buried it. It is not clear why they did it, but the fact is that the clay with which they covered everything has served as a kind of protective dome to preserve it in an extraordinary state; Some fabric and even the gold leaf that decorated some ivories has even been rescued.
Thus, this unusual building located on the periphery to which Tartessos spread around the 6th century BC, with all its remains so well preserved, is being key to shedding light on a civilization that has long been the stuff of legends. and speculation due to the scarcity of remains found in its central core, around the Guadalquivir River, between Huelva, Seville and Cádiz. At the moment, the Casas del Turuñuelo site is burying deeper and deeper the old idea that the Tartessian culture had no entity of its own, separate from that of the Phoenician colonizers.
For example, clearly local elements can be observed in the faces of the relief exhibited in the MAN. One is the warrior’s braid. Another, the diadem placed on a helmet in a fragment, which greatly resembles some of the funerary jewels from the 7th century BC found about 115 kilometers north of Guareña, in the Cáceres town of Aliseda (part of these treasures are can be seen in the MAN permanent exhibition). And there are also the earrings that the other two faces wear, exactly the same clay earrings, almost the same size, as those found in nearby sites of the time and that can also be seen in the archaeological site. The museum offers guided tours that begin in the Protohistory rooms and end with the faces of Turuñuelo on November 27 (at 5:00 p.m.), December 5 (11:30 a.m.), December 18 (5:00 p.m.), January 16 (11:30 a.m.) and January 29 (5:00 p.m.). With a maximum capacity of 15 seats and under the title of The sculptural faces of Turuñuelo in the context of peninsular protohistory through the MAN collections, It is necessary to reserve in advance.
The Turuñuelo reliefs are displayed on specially manufactured hot-melt filament resin supports to be able to join the fragments of each piece without having to glue them or fuse them in any other way. It is told by Elena García, the restorer from the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE) who has designed them using 3D techniques. After meticulous research work, which includes all types of analysis through photographic, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray images, when the cleaning and restoration part arrived, “we decided not to do anything, to intervene as little as possible to preserve all the archaeological information. that they contribute,” he explains. It refers to the impregnated ash from the burning of the building, or the remains of pigments – it seems clear that the relief was painted – which in the future, as research techniques advance, may be very valuable. Or the anchoring system, with some moving part and a hole on the back to pass a stem, but whose exact functioning experts are still trying to decipher. “In one of them you can even see a repair,” says García, and summarizes: “The pieces are perfectly legible as they are and many things could be lost, their authenticity, with their cleaning and restoration.”
There is still a long way to go to study faces. To begin with, the material from which they are made, stones called biocalcarenites, which the IPCE geologists are analyzing, which seem to be the same ones with which other elements found in Turuñuelo were built and may be similar, explain the archaeologists Rodríguez and Celestino, to those of the Iberian warriors of Porcuna, in Jaén, also from the 5th century BC. Furthermore, given the context in which the pieces are appearing – remember, the place was thoroughly destroyed and its remains were burned and scattered everywhere – they do not lose hope of finding more fragments in future excavation campaigns that will allow them to complete these and , perhaps, other relief sculptures.