Cráneos de équidos en contextos rituales de los ss. V-IV a. C. en el País Valencià

Abstract

In this paper we present three ritual deposits performed in formal context in the central-east of the Iberian Peninsula during the 5th and the 4th centuries BC. The particularity concerns to the use of separate skulls. These burials have been preserved as reminders of specific actions in selected important contexts from the oppidum of El Puig d’Alcoi (Alcoi, Alacant); La Cervera site (Font de la Figuera, Valencia) and Ruaya site (València). All the studied assemblages appear to be ritual in character according to contextual information, taphonomic data and bioarchaeological analyses. The aim is showing the complex character and the versatility of ritual practices in these Iron Age societies and characterize through the morphometric study the type of equids used to perform these rituals.arqueología