Rider Lancing An Enemy. Cerrillo Blanco Sculptural Group (Porcuna, Jaén, Spain)

Three-dimensional sculptural group carved of calcarenite stone. It is dated to the 5th century BC and belongs to the culture of the Iberians. It comes from the heroon of Cerrillo Blanco in the municipality of Porcuna, Jaén province, Spain.It has a preserved height of 120 cm and a width of 100 cm. It is part of the warriors group. Two characters are depicted that reflect the final moment of a combat. A victorious horseman, standing in front of his horse, kills his fallen opponent on the ground. The animal is raising its front legs and is beginning a slight enveloping turn around the warrior, showing the ideal aristocratic harmony between the horse and the warrior. The victorious rider is wearing a V-neck tunic girded with a belt and topped with two ruffles. His arms are adorned with bracelets that mark his high status. On his chest he bears a protective element in the shape of a disc-armour held by thick crossed bands, and metal discs on his shoulders. His back is protected by another disc and his legs are safeguarded by greaves. A sheathed fronton dagger is hanging from his belt. He is holding a circular shield in his left hand, while his right hand presents a recess for fitting the spear with which he has penetrated his opponent's mouth.The fallen warrior on the ground is wearing a V-neck tunic. On his chest he carries a sheathed sword held by a transversal band. He has moved his head to the side to prevent the horse from crushing it with its hooves, while his left hand and his shield have been firmly pinned down by the victor's foot. His other hand is raised, probably in a gesture of supplication, in a final attempt to prevent the spear from piercing his face.The assemblage shows a cruel death, depicted with little subtlety, to extol the victory.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.