Aryballos in the shape of a pomegranate from the cemetery of La Bobadilla (Alcaudete, Jaén, Spain)

Ceramic tree with clear paste and globular profile that closes in a jagged neck with a hole in the neck. It is a plastic vessel shaped like a pomegranate, a symbol very used by the ancient societies of the Mediterranean, which brings together different meanings related, on the one hand, to fecundity by its multiple seed fruits and, on the other, to the funerary world, linked to myths. Greeks of Démeter and Persephone in which the death and resurrection of life alternate cyclically and inseparably. In this case the grenade is associated with a funerary context accompanying the person buried in his transit to the afterlife. It is significant the appearance of two other similar aríbalos in the same tomb (Chamber A), which can indicate its importance also in relation to its content. On the other hand, the existence of two other amphoriscos of vitreous paste and a green fayenza aríbalo (objects to contain perfumes and oils associated with the feminine environment) point out the possibility that it is a female tomb, together with imports and therefore luxury objects, and the appearance of two amorcillated earrings and a gold ring, may be marking the social status of the person or people buried there. Chronology: Centuries V-IV B.C. Dimensions: Height 9.5 cm Maximum width 7.3 cm The cemetery of La Bobadilla is located in the municipality of Alcaudete (Jaén) and occupies an extensive hill with north-south orientation. The highest area of the hill is known as Cerro del EsLa. On several occasions, and during the agricultural work, plows have repeatedly scrambled the cemetery, and most of it is the large number of ceramic fragments that are observed on surface along this area. The first archeological works were carried out by Juan Maluquer de Motes in the early 70’s in the farmhouse of Campanera Baja. This first intervention was made because of numerous discoveries of “pots and mouths full of bones and ashes” discovered by inhabitants of this town due to the aforementioned agricultural work. It is an iberian incineration necropolis. Incinerated remains are deposited inside one or more urns that are covered with a plate or with a stone. The urn is placed on the bottom of a simple hole without special covering. Only in some cases and according to the shape of the urn, it appears carriageway with small stones to maintain the verticality. The depth in which the polls appear is scarce. In some cases they reach 0.5 m and most appear at 0.25 m. This low depth explains the destruction of burials carried out by the repeated agricultural work. Overall, the excavated area of the cemetery seems to correspond to a zone of poor incinerations as they lack a trousseau. At most they offer some fusayola, sets of tabas between the incineration bones or small copper or silver tendrils. In one case the iron grip of a falcata appeared. In total, 19 simple burials were documented. Totally different is the result of the excavation of the camera A, located on the western edge of the hill at less than 0.18 m depth. It is a cyst formed with SO-NE oriented stone. The situation of the cista at the point of bankruptcy of the slope explains that the cover remained on surface and its elements had disappeared. In it appeared a brief cobblestone as a step, in which the urn would be deposited and on which was found one of the fragments of forest paste. In addition, fragments of two small vessels of vitreous blue paste, two fragments of pottery, three Iberian pomegranate aryballos, two bowls and two small fragments of a bronze ring were documented in this camera. A set of earrings and a gold ring appeared beneath a pointed step at the head and 0.20 m deep, in a small hole deeper than the general level of the cista’s floor. The earrings are large, shaped like geminated tendrils, and are made up of a finite sheet of plain gold. The documented material allows to deduce that it is a tomb of a lady of a certain rank, since apart from the gold jewels probably of local manufacture, it had several import pieces. The proposed chronology for this cemetery oscillates between the s. VI B.C. and mid s. V B.C. Bibliography: Left, I. (1997): Grenades and poems in the Iberian culture and the context of the ancient Mediterranean, Pyrenae, no. 28: 65-98. Maluquer, J., Picazo, M., and Rincón M. A. (1973): The Iberian cemetery of La Bobadilla (Jaén). Andalusia and Extremadura. Protohistoric Research Program I. Barcelona. Mata, C., Badal, E., Collado, E., and Pauripollés, P. (2010): Iberian Flora: From the Real to the Imaginary, Museu de Prehistòria de València: 56-68.