THE IBERIAN SANCTUARY OF PEDRARIAS AND THE “PIEDRA DE LA ENCANTÁ” SACRED ROCK (ALMACILES, GRANADA)
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Abstract
Study of a rural sanctuary of the Iberian Culture dated in the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C. It is located at a strategic point on the old road from Granada to Murcia used from proto- historic times to connect Southeast Iberia and the Eastern territories of Andalusia. The sanctuary is associated with a sacred rock known as “Piedra de La Encantá” in a numinic place of a “sacred landscape”. The sanctuary is under a very visible large rocky outcrop. It was probably a popular meeting place of sacred pilgrimage, where people deposited small broken plates as offering, a rite documented in other similar Iberian sanctuaries in the Southeast and Eastern Andalusia, but also in other Mediterranean sanctuaries. The “Piedra de La Encantá” is one of the few known “sacred rocks” in Andalusia, associated with a difficult pass and a temporary stream. This interesting monument documents the spread of protohistoric beliefs of Indo-European origin in Andalusia.