Treasures of Granada

THE LAST REFUGE OF NEANDERTHAL MAN

Judging by its physical characteristics—the great thickness of its bones, its developed supraorbital torus, its quadrangular eye sockets—this fossil corresponds to the forehead of a neanderthal boy aged around seven, He lived 75,000 years ago in the Cave of Carigüela, very near what today is the town of Piñar.

The Neanderthals remained relatively unchanged until a very late date, when the first Upper Paleolithic cultures had already appeared across the rest of the continent. This means that the south of the Iberian Peninsula was perhaps his last refuge from the advance of anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens.

This is a funeral stele drawn on slate, with the highlight being the central anthropomorphic figure.

Esparto grass sandals found in the Cueva de los Murciélagos [Cave of Bats] (Albuñol) by a local resident in 1831. They are noted for their exceptional condition and they are one of the few organic prehistoric remains preserved in the Iberian Peninsula.

The diadem from the Cueva de los Murciélagos is a fine gold band that was created using the goldbeating technique.

According to the account of Manuel de Gongora, the diadem was found on the skull of a male skeleton, which was part of a collective burial. Although this story is hard to believe, the workmanship of this piece never ceases to amaze.

This piece represents a female idol from the Copper Age settlement of Malagón (Cúllar).

It is an articulated idol made of ivory, which is missing its head and maybe its arms, and is just over 16 cm in height.

THE ARGARIC CULTURE

During the Bronze Age, between about 2250 and 1575 BC, the Argaric Culture developed in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula.

A large number of Argaric villages are known, usually located close to resources such as river valleys, farmland, and copper ore lodes.

They were composed of rectangular houses made of stone with wooden roofs. In these houses staple goods were produced and consumed: grain was ground, fabric was spun, and textiles and tools were manufactured.

The custom of burying the dead in the ground inside houses, within a large vessel or pithos, now appeared. This has been interpreted as an attempt to legitimize the ownership of the house and the right to live in the town.

The interment shown is a child urn burial in the town of Fuente Amarga in Galera.

This font seems to come from Cerro de los Infantes in Pinos Puente, where there was a Late Bronze Age settlement characterized by large oval huts whose inner space was not partitioned, rather it was split into different areas for domestic tasks and craft work.

In this scarab, Harpocrates is seen sitting on a lotus flower.

The pieces you see here were part of the trousseau left in the tombs. Many are luxury items of eastern origin only within reach of the highest social classes, in this case the first Phoenician settlers of Sex.

The use of the ostrich egg in the Phoenician burial ritual draws the eye. The ostrich egg is sacred in character, and in the necropolis it acquires an apotropaic function, driving away evil, and acting as the seed of life and recovery.

THE IBERIAN BANQUET

These pieces of Greek pottery were found buried in a grave together with other luxury imported objects: several Greek ceramic vases, polychrome glass ointment bottles, loom weights, metal and ivory objects, shells, and an ostrich egg shell. These objects form a ritual cache, buried after a banquet or ceremony in which perfumes and ointments were used.

The ointment bottles feature prominently among the toiletry items. These types of ointment bottles, along with ivories and Attic ceramics, are considered luxury products that reached the settlements through trade. They usually appear in the necropolis, forming part of the deceased's trousseau, as well as in sanctuaries, inside votive urns, and very occasionally in household settings.

The presence of this shell in the south of the Iberian Peninsula links the area to trade from Southern Italy and Sicily from the last decades of the fifth century and throughout the fourth century BC.

OIL, WINE, AND PRESERVES

These jars were used to store and transport oil, wine, and preserves. The pivot at the base meant they could be put on ships. The jars had corks or ceramic lids and were then sealed with a layer of lime and sand where the name or stamp of the owner was recorded. In the Phoenician and later Roman city of Sexi—Almuñécar—the best preserved or salted fish were produced and then traded throughout the Mediterranean.

THE ROMAN POTTERY OF CARTUJA

This Roman pottery is located on the grounds of the church of La Cartuja, on the outskirts of Granada. It comprises five ceramic furnaces.

In these potteries, tiles and bricks, large pots, jars or dolia, fine tableware, and luxury ceramics were produced from red, glazed, and glossy clay, called terra sigillata. They were manufactured using standardized molds, meaning it can be linked to Andalusia's largest ceramic production center, Villares de Andujar (Jaén), of which the Granada pottery was probably a branch.

This bronze sculpture is a portrait of an important person whose civil role the sculptor wanted to highlight, both by his hand gesture and the ostentatious rings, symbols of power and prestige.

Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, has endless representations in the history of art. Here the craftsmanship of the robe stands out, semi-transparent, clinging to her body with a belt, leaving one breast exposed.

LATE ANTIQUITY

The slow dissolution of the Roman world in the fourth and fifth centuries, due to the continual crises and the threat of invasions, was a turbulent time for the Hispanic provinces, resulting in a less organized society.

Many people left to live in the countryside, which was a setback for urban planning, but cities continued to maintain their status as capitals, their judicial administration, and their religious functions.

One of the most momentous changes that occurred during these centuries was the gradual Christianization of society.

The first council held in the Hispania Baetica by the Christian church, took place in the city of Iliberi, in the early fourth century. 37 churches from all over Hispania were represented.
The topics discussed were of exceptional importance and would lay the foundations of what was to be the great Catholic church.

Architectural elements are also decorated either with epigraphs or animal or plant motifs—leaves, palmettes—in this example we see an original form of decoration.