Bull. (Porcuna, Jaén, Spain)

Three-dimensional sculpture carved in white calcarenite stone. It is dated between the 7th and 6th centuries BC and belongs to the culture of the Iberians.It comes from the area around the present-day town of Porcuna in Jaén province, Spain, It is identified with Iberian Ipolka and Roman Obulco. Its preserved dimensions are: height 55 cm, length 70 cm and thickness 20 cm.Carved from a single block and on a small base, it represents a bull in a prone position, with its legs folded under its belly and its head slightly lowered, facing front. The figure is free-standing. Its state of conservation is good, although it is missing its nasal septum, its front left knee and the end of both rear legs, as well as its base in that area. It has a thin belly, rising towards the rear quarters, the ears are heart-shaped and directed rearwards or towards the vertical furrows that on both sides of the body point to the ribs. Above the eyes, large and with bulging pupils, curved grooves are marked which, in this case, serve as a seat for an open flower with incised petals. The buds and flower appear to correspond to the same plant, a lily. The sculpture has several holes in which to insert decorative metallic elements, such as flower petals on the forehead, circular plates on the cheeks and sides, and horns on the head. The sculptor had no intention of carving a realistic figure, instead converting the image of the bovid into an elegant drawing, transferred with delicacy and detail to a block of white limestone.Unfortunately, nothing is known about its original context, except that it comes from the urban centre of Porcuna itself, specifically from the place known as the "Haza de Napoleón", where it was found by chance in 1946. It is currently hypothesised that it was part of some kind of monument that would have marked the entrance to the ancient oppidum of Ipolka. It may have been placed on a pillar, especially if it was a unique piece unrelated to others. In any case, it would have been located in an area protected from the weather given its excellent state of conservation and the fact that it has barely been eroded.Cerrillo Blanco is an Iberian cemetery and sacred area located on a hill north of the present-day town of Porcuna, ancient Ipolka in Iberian times and Obulco in the Roman period. It is an area of memory and a long chronological sequence with intermediate breaks. It began with an initial phase in the Late Bronze Age and reached the peak of its development at the end of the 7th century BC with the construction of a collective tumulus. At the end of the 5th century BC, the tumulus was used as the hiding place for a large although extensively damaged sculptural group from a nearby heroon. The sculptures had been violently destroyed and their identifying features eliminated. They were buried in two ditches around the late 7th-century-BC tumulus. The collection consists of 1,400 fragments from sculpted figures of humans (warriors, mythical combats, ancestors, the divinity) and the animals that defined the territory and mythical space. Together they represent some of the basic principles of the southern Iberian societies’ heroic aristocratic worldview. In summary, the Cerrillo Blanco sculptural group expresses the power of a family lineage at the origin of the Iberian aristocracies of the Alto Guadalquivir.The Cerrillo Blanco sculptures are currently on display at the Jaén Iberian Museum. The Porcuna (Jaén) archaeological site can also be visited as a stop on the "Journey to the Time of the Iberians" cultural itinerary, which aims to focus attention on the important remains of the Iberian culture in the province of Jaén.References:Chapa, T. (2015): “Los escultores del Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna”. En Ruiz A., Molinos M. (eds.): Jaén, tierra íbera. 40 años de investigación y transferencia. Universidad de Jaén, Jaén. 85-92.Olmos, R. (2002): "Los grupos escultóricos del Cerrillo Blanco de Porcuna (Jaén). Un ensayo de lectura iconográfica convergente". Archivo Español de Arqueología, 75: 107-122. Olmos, R. (2004): “Los príncipes esculpidos de Porcuna (Jaén): una aproximación de la naturaleza y de la historia”. Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Giennenses, 189: 19-46.Ruiz, A. y Molinos, M. (2015): "El conjunto escultórico de Cerrillo Blanco, Porcuna". En Ruiz, A. y Molinos, M. (eds.). Jaén, tierra íbera. 40 años de investigación y transferencia. Universidad de Jaén, Jaén. 67-84.Torrecillas, J. F. (1985): La necrópolis de época tartésica de Cerrillo Blanco. Instituto de Estudios Giennenses. Jaén.