Verraco

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The verracos (Spanish: verraco; Portuguese: berrão) are granite megalithic monuments, sculptures of animals that are to be found in the west of the Iberian meseta - the high central plain of the Iberian peninsula - in the Spanish provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, and Zamora, but also in the north of Portugal and Galicia. Over 400 have been identified. Not all are sows, bulls and boars are also identifiable. Their dates range from the mid 4th to 1st centuries BCE.

Though they were perhaps not confined to a single usage, the verracos were an essential part of the landscape of the Vettones, one of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. It has generally been assumed from their high visibility in their original surroundings that these sculptures had some protective religious significance, whether guarding the security of livestock or as funerary monuments (some of them bear Latin funerary inscriptions). The verracos are particularly numerous in the vicinity of the walled Celtiberian communities that Romans called oppida.

[edit] Notable verracos

• Porca de Murça (the "Sow of Murça") is one of the most famous. The name has been taken to designate a red wine of the Douro district in Portugal.
• The Bulls of Villanueva
• Bulls of Guisando, El Tiemblo, Ávila

[edit] External links

• Jesús R. Álvarez-Sanchís, "Oppida and Celtic society in western Spain," in e-Celtoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies vol 6 (The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula)
• Photo gallery of verracos
• Valpacos

[edit] Further reading

• J. Leite de Vasconcelos, Religiões da Lusitânia, Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, Lisbon.
• Eduardo Sánchez Moreno, 2000. Vetones: Historia y Arqueología de un pueblo prerromano (Madrid: Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma)