The perception of the 'sacred landscape': sacred rocks and sanctuaries in Alconétar (Cáceres) from the Late Bronze Age to Christianization

Abstract

Analysis of new “sacred rocks” in the territory of Alconétar, Cáceres, Spain, in the context of the sites known from the Late Bronze Age to Romanization. The analysis shows how sacred places are inserted in the diachronic evolution of the territory and reveals a “supernatural” conception of the landscape, characteristic of the Celtic world, based on intervisibility and topo-astronomical orientations. This conception is essential to understand the “sacred landscape” in the pre-Roman imaginary. This ideological conception of the landscape has been preserved until today in a “long-term” process, thus allowing us to document aspects of pre-Roman religion and mentality that previously went unnoticed.