Yesterday the Government Council approved the declaration of Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), with the category of archaeological zone, of the Iberian sanctuary of La Nariz, in the Umbria of Salchite (Moratalla). The resolution comes four years after archaeologist José Ángel Ocharan requested protection. The cataloging file also includes a prehistoric town traditionally framed in the Bronze Age that is located at the top of the same hill, and which is still pending study.
The Iberian sanctuary of the Nose, a shelter that housed libations and offerings in honor of a deity, was unveiled by Professor Pedro Lillo in 1981, but its excavation did not arrive until 2011, by the Ocharan team. In the Region, it is one of the few sites of these characteristics that have been documented in detail. Especially significant was the discovery of a painted ceramic fragment showing a female figure, priestess or goddess, on whose iconographic reading and interpretation most of the debate has focused until now. This enigmatic remains, known as the ‘goddess of Salchite’, has become the most studied piece in the Archaeological Museum of Murcia, where it is kept.
According to the file approved at the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, the Iberian sanctuary is located in a deep shelter facing southwest composed of four contiguous cavities, the two intermediate ones of smaller proportions but deeper, which, in the distance, bear resemblance to some nostrils, an aspect for which it is called The Nose.
Offerings to a deity
Ocharan highlights that the site, which reached its splendor between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, was a magical place related “to rites of passage.” [de la niñez a la edad adulta], of gratitude for favors granted or to request protection when a journey began. The rock at the entrance was lightly carved to allow the sun’s rays to sneak into the shelter during the sunset of the winter solstice in order to illuminate the pools that, also shaped by the hand of man, collect the water that emerges from the stone inside the cavity.
A team led by archaeologist José Ángel Ocharan begins a new campaign to advance the study of the site
The Ocharan team is preparing a new campaign in La Nariz in order to advance the study of the site. The work will focus on some walls located at the access and on a mound that exists at the top.
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