Fundar la casa: prácticas rituales y espacio doméstico en el oppidum ibérico de El Puig d'Alcoi (Alacant)

Abstract

In this paper we present the ritual practices identified in the Iberian oppidum of El Puig d'Alcoi, in the central area of the ancient Contestania, in the northern part of the current province of Alicante. We present two separate deposits under the houses dated during the 5th and 4th centuries BC, in which were buried remains of banquets and animal sacrifices, with the burial of a newborn in one of them. We interpret them as foundation rituals of houses and are analysed in relation to domestic life developed in the course of the occupation of the oppidum, in particular with the processes of building-rebuilding the houses and the social relationships of the community that inhabited El Puig d'Alcoi.