CERRO DE LOS SANTOS
Albacete, Spain.
Site at the municipal border of Montealegre del Castillo,
occasionally confused with the nearby Llano de la Consolación. At the crown of the hill are the remains of
an Iberian sanctuary. Its nucleus was a temple in antis,
based on bedrock, with its plan recognizable although
the structure itself had disappeared. Its dimensions are
15.6 by 9.9 m, with a doorway 2.6 m wide. Access was
by two flights of steps. The walls, to judge by what was
still in place a century ago, were formed by a double
course of squared blocks held together by lead clamps.
The building was covered with roof tiles, and may have
had a pavement of rhomboidal termacotta floor tiles.
Excavations in the 19th c. uncovered some 300 pieces
of stone sculpture, for the most part now in the National
Archaeological Museum in Madrid, although some are
in other museums and private collections. More recent
investigation has shown that the deposit occupies the
center of a dense pine-Roman and Roman settlement.
Many of the sculptures were found on the slopes of the
hill, and their poor preservation can have been due only
partly to erosion as some of the pieces seem to have been
broken intentionally. The statuary in the round, and to
a lesser degree the low reliefs, seems to date from the
4th to the 1st c. B.C.; in the latest excavations there was
not a single ceramic find from the Imperial Roman period, although there were some coins, which had doubtless been displaced in later searches for building material.
No ancient literary sources allude to the sanctuary nor
can the site be identified with any ancient town. The
Cerro de los Santos has none of the usual characteristics
of a developed Iberian sanctuary. Apart from architectural fragments such as capitals, the sculptures in stone
have the characteristics of votive offerings. Except for
a few examples of animals, the subjects are human beings, almost always single figures, usually female; in only
one instance is there a group. Some pieces show inscriptions in an Iberic alphabet, while a few have Latin letters (there are also a considerable number of forgeries
and reworked fragments). The ex-votos accumulated
over many generations. Some were produced under Roman domination and may be classed with the Roman
provincial art of the Iberian peninsula, but these are
few. On the basis of the jewelry carved on the female
figures, the earliest sculptures should be dated as far
back as the 4th c. B.C., but it is difficult to construct a
chronological sequence, owing to the variety of the figures and their costumes, even when they may be contemporary.
All the sculpture was cut in soft sandstone from local
quarries. This fact, combined with the absence of early
excavation records, has led to the attribution to Cerro
de los Santos of pieces that might have been discovered
in the Llano de la Consolación or on other sites of the
districts of Montealegre and Yecla. Some pieces show
traces of polychrome coloring, which appears to reflect
a common practice. Further, a xoanon-like quality has
been postulated in these figures, although this might
better be attributed to working in soft local stone.
Excluding isolated heads and fragments of busts, the
female figures are statuettes with tiara-like headdress or
cloak. Standing figures predominate, though some are
seated on a chair or throne. In their costumes a step-like
rendering of the folds is reminiscent of archaic Greek
sculpture. Also reminiscent is the rendering of eyes, hair,
and jewelry. The male statues show similar traits. All
these wear the same costume, a girt pallium grasped by
the right hand. Many have their heads uncovered, with
hair worked like that on archaic Greek statues. A few
wear earrings or pendant bullae, some a cap or bonnet;
the only warrior is armed with a short sword.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Savirón,
Noticias de varias excavaciones del Cerro de los Santos, en el término de Montealegre (1875)
MP; J. de la Rada y Delgado,
Antigüedades del Cerro de los Santos (1875); P. Paris,
Essai sur
l'Art et l'Industrie de l'Espagne primitive (1903); id.,
Promenades archéologiques en Espagne I (1910); J. R.
Mélida,
Las esculturas del Cerro de los Santos. Questión
de autenticidad (1906); J. Zuazo,
La villa de Montealegre y su Cerro de los Santos (1915); A. Garcíia y Bellido, “De Escultuma ibérica,”
ArchEspArq 16 (1943)
272, 292
MP; id., “Arte Ibérico,”
Historia de España I, 3 (1955) 483-541; A. Fernández de Avilés, “Escultura del Cerro de los Santos,”
ArchEspArq 16 (1943) 361-87; id., “La colección de los Padres Escolapios de Yecla,” ibid. 21 (1948) 360-72; id.,
Cerro de los Santos (1966).
A. BALIL
