Escultura zoomorfa de Monterrubio de la serena (Badajoz). Una aproximación a su interpretación socio-cultural y simbólica

Abstract

We present a study of a new stone sculpture of a ram, found in Monterrubio de la Serena (Badajoz). If from a formal point of view it must be related to Andalusian Iberian sculpture, its symbolic evaluation lead us to compare it with other plastic representations found in several cultural contexts. These are frequently associated with burial and religious rites, where they can symbolize the passage from death to Iife, or with some scenes of sacrifices offered to the deity. Such rites came from the Eastern Mediterranean and they spread out around the Iberian Peninsula during the first millennium B.C.