Cancho Roano (sometimes Cancho Ruano) is an archaeological site located in the municipality of
Zalamea de la Serena, in the province of
Badajoz
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. It is located three miles from Zalamea de la Serena in the direction of
Quintana de la Serena Quintana, in a small valley along the stream Cagancha.
History
Cancho Roano is the best preserved
Tartessian site. It dates back to at least the sixth century BCE, although the building was expanded and modified in later centuries. Based on the dating of objects found on the site, Cancho Roano is estimated to date from 550 BCE. The site was destroyed in a fire no later than 370 BCE. The building appears to have been ritually burned and sealed in rammed earth in a manner similar to
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy
*Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization
**Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
** Etrusca ...
.
The main body of the building is square and oriented toward the east. The building is surrounded by a deep moat, which was permanently filled with water. Although Cancho Roano's exact function is unknown, the religious character of the site is undeniable due to the presence of altars; however, the site may be a palace-shrine, judging from its defensive system.
Discovery and excavations
Excavations of the site, directed by John Maluquer de Motes, began in 1978 and continued through 2001. It was declared a National Monument in 1986. The site, along with an interpretation center, is open to the public.
Interpretations
The evident sacred character of the building and the presence of multiple cells have attracted the idea of a temple dedicated to
sacred prostitution
Sacred prostitution, temple prostitution, cult prostitution, and religious prostitution are rites consisting of paid intercourse performed in the context of religious worship, possibly as a form of fertility rite or divine marriage (). Scholars ...
, possibly dedicated to the
Phoenician deity
Astarte
Astarte (; , ) is the Hellenized form of the Ancient Near Eastern goddess Ashtart or Athtart ( Northwest Semitic), a deity closely related to Ishtar ( East Semitic), who was worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name ...
. The hypothesis is supported by the presence of
looms in two of the chambers, evoking the weavers of the goddess
Asherah
Asherah (; he, אֲשֵׁרָה, translit=Ăšērā; uga, 𐎀𐎘𐎗𐎚, translit=ʾAṯiratu; akk, 𒀀𒅆𒋥, translit=Aširat; Qatabanian: ') in ancient Semitic religion, is a fertility goddess who appears in a number of ancient ...
that worked as prostitutes in the ancient
Temple of Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...
.
[Fernando López Pardo, ''Humanos en la mesa de los dioses: la escatológica fenicia y los frisos de Pozo Moro''. A. González Prats (ed.), ''El mundo funerario. Actas del III Seminario Internacional sobre Temas Fenicios''. Guardamar del Segura, May 3-5, 2002. Homenaje al Prof. D. Manuel Pellicer Catalán, Alicante, 2004, 495-537] Similar rites would have been identified on the iconography of other Phoenician sites in Hispania, like
Gadir,
Castulo
Castulo (Latin: ''Castulo''; Iberian: ''Kastilo'') was an Iberian town and bishopric (now Latin titular see located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, in south-central Spain, near modern Linares.
History
Evidence of human presence sin ...
and La Quéjola (
Albacete
Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...
).
[Teresa Moneo, ''Religio iberica: santuarios, ritos y divinidades (siglos VII-I A.C.)'', 2003, Real Academia de la Historia, ] Another possibility would be a palace meant to accommodate a
harem
Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...
, whose members would likely act in sacred rites on the temple.
[José María Blázquez Martínez, ]
El santuario de Cancho Roano
'. F. Villar – M. P. Fernández Álvarez (eds.), Religión, lengua y cultura prerromanas de Hispania. VIII Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas prerromanas de la Península Ibérica. Salamanca 1999, pg. 83-88.[
Richard Freund theorizes that Cancho Roano was a "memorial city" designed to serve as a ceremonial representation of the lost city of Tartessos, which, in Freund's theory, was also ]Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
. Freund argued that a stele found at Cancho Roano displayed an image with concentric circles that matches Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's description of Atlantis. Nonetheless, Freund’s theories have been widely dismissed in academic circles, and the symbol is not much more than a typical warrior shield engraved in the Southwestern Stelae from the Iberian Peninsula, of which there are many examples.[Hernando Grande, Amparo: "Representaciones del escudo en la Península Ibérica: escudos en estelas" ''CuPAUAM: Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología'' 3 (1976): 127-135 http://hdl.handle.net/10486/616]
References
Canchona
External links
All about Cancho Roano (web del C.S.I.C.)
Cancho Roano como monumento proto-histórico (documento PDF)
{{Coord, 38.701426, N, 5.684165, W, display=title
Buildings and structures completed in the 6th century BC
4th-century BC disestablishments
Burned buildings and structures
1978 archaeological discoveries
History of Extremadura
Archaeological sites in Extremadura
Tartessos
Prehistoric sites in Spain
Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Badajoz
Astarte
Atlantis