The votive offerings date from the mid-3rd century BC and are made using the "lost wax" technique. best replica watches
Friday, 16 July 2010 From today, the exhibition space in the hall of the Archaeological Museum of Alicante will house the Iberian bronze votive offerings from the Sanctuary of La Luz in Murcia. The President of the Alicante Provincial Council, Joaquín Ripoll, inaugurated the exhibition today in a ceremony in which the Director of the Archaeological Museum of Murcia (MAM), Luis E. De Miguel Santed, and the Director of the MARQ, José Alberto Cortés, also took part.
The votive offerings on display, with which the Alicante museum begins a new line of exhibitions of unique pieces from other Spanish regions, date from the mid-3rd century BC and the following century. Made using the "lost wax" technique, they appear in Iberian sacred contexts, where they were deposited as offerings to the goddess in exchange for well-being and health, protection against adverse atmospheric phenomena and fortune in obtaining the fruits of the earth and animals. The pieces are no larger than 18 cm and have an archaic appearance. In general, they are stylised representations of men and women, images of offerers in an attitude of prayer and carrying some bread or fruit, although there are also men on horseback or displaying their weapons. Some elements are exaggerated, such as the hands or sexual organs, and the treatment of clothing and hair is characteristic. On the other hand, representations of horses and anatomical votive offerings, representing parts of the body, are common. The sanctuary of La Luz is located in the foothills of the Carrascoy mountain range, next to the fertile plain of the Segura river, close to the settlement of Santa Catalina and the necropolis of Cabecico del Tesoro, a common location for Iberian cult centres. Although there is already news of the site at the end of the 18th century, archaeological excavations were not begun until 1924 by Cayetano de Mergelina, and continued in the 1990s under the direction of Professor Pedro Lillo Carpio. The origin of the sanctuary dates back to the end of the 5th century BC. During the first half of the 4th century BC, an open-air sacred area was found, with votive offerings in the crevices of the rocks and cremation areas, an altar and two columns that would mark the sacredness of the place. Subsequently, a trapezoidal building was built for the cult of Demeter and Persephone, of the nourishing, fecundity and fertility type, but also of the "beyond", all in a mystical atmosphere in the Eleusinian style. Sacrificial animals, shaved knives and pottery deposits (libation bowls and dishes, chaliciforms, ointments), evidence of silicernia or ritual banquets, have been found. Remains of bronze and lead smelting, related to the production of metal votive offerings, are also known. In the period between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a new building of Greco-Italic inspiration was constructed, with stuccoed brick columns, ashlars, palmette antefixes with faces, opus signinum paving, etc. During the second half of the 2nd century BC, the temple was demolished and the area was razed to the ground, and systematic plundering took place.
The MARQ's programme dedicated to unique pieces was inaugurated in 2007 with the exhibition of the Roman bronze hand found at the Lucentum site, which is currently on display in the museum's permanent room dedicated to Roman culture. Subsequently, the terracotta boat or birreme "Surcando el tiempo" and the Neolithic vase "Secreto de Barro" were exhibited.
