The archaeological team investigating the Driebes Carpetan site has found the figure of a sphinx on the Virgen de la Muela hill, on the banks of the Tagus River. The sculpture was collapsed on the floor of a rectangular structure from the Roman imperial period (1st to 5th centuries). The figure occupied, according to experts, a strategic point on the Complutum-Cartago Nova road. Precisely in this place, in 1597 a cache of silver objects from the end of the 3rd century BC was discovered. C., In 1945, during the construction of the Estremera canal, the second part of the complex was found, known as the Driebes Treasure, which is exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum.
The sphinx was a mythological animal whose representation was widespread in Egypt, Greece, the Iberian and Roman world. This creature had the wings of a bird, the body of a lioness and the head of a woman. In fact, the sphinx of Caraca shows the four pairs of lioness breasts marked on its belly. It sits on its hindquarters and stands on its front legs. The fragments recovered during the excavations represent the left wing, a large part of the body, the hind legs and the beginning of the front legs, but not the head of the sculpture. One of the four corners of the platform that supported it is also preserved, carved from the same block.
Archaeologists have managed to recover the appearance of the figure. They consider that its author “had great technical quality, as demonstrated by the representation of five marked ribs and part of a lock of hair that fell between the left wing and the neck. The disposition of the preserved wing shows that it was extended. On this wing we can see remains of the stucco that covered the piece and that could be polychrome. The proportional and slender character stands out, as well as the technical quality of the piece.”
The iconography of the sphinx is well known in the classical world, as it has oriental origins, with a marked apotropaic (protective) character. The sphinx found fulfills precisely this role “and was probably part of a funerary monument whose base would be a structure of well-squared ashlars,” according to the archaeologists. During the excavation, ashen earth was found, but no cremated human remains or grave goods associated with a cremation grave.
Field work carried out by IGME-CSIC geologists has determined that the rock used for the sculpture is a massive marly gypsum, grayish in color and nodular in appearance. This type of Miocene rock is very abundant in the area. In fact, there are outcrops just a dozen meters from the discovery, so the sphinx was made with materials from the area.
The sculpture, which is kept in the Guadalajara Museum, has been intervened by the conservation-restoration team of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid, made up of professor Fátima Marcos Fernández, the conservators-restorers Javier Fernández, Zaira Villa, Klo Nieto and Virginia Lozano, and the students of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Degree.
The team is now focused on the conservation and consolidation of the plaster. It has also proceeded to exhaustive documentation using photogrammetry with visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. In a second phase of work, the removal of remains of surface dirt and the creation of an exhibition support are planned.