Archaeologists have unearthed an impressive Iberian sanctuary near the Spanish town of Jódar in the province of Jaén, where stone, sunlight, and myth converged 2,500 years ago. The site, El Fontanar, reveals how ancient cultures merged astronomy and ritual to dramatize themes of fertility, rebirth, and cosmic order.

A. Aerial view from the east of El Fontanar; B. Enlarged detail of the limestone outcrop and the terrace monument; C. Measurements of the rock cavity (female genital organ); D–E. Measurements of the stone monolith (male genital organ). Credit: A. Ruiz et al., Complutum (2025). CC BY 4.0

The monument has two features. The first is a tall monolith, over five meters high, which was intended to align with the winter solstice rising sun. Across from it stands a rock shelter nearly seven meters high, whose V-shaped entrance evokes the shape of female anatomy. A mᴀssive boulder above the opening evokes fallopian tubes, and the lower stone contours form a vulva-like recess.

At dawn on the shortest day of the year, the first rays of the sun touch the tip of the monolith. Its shadow extends across the ground, touching the recess at the base of the shelter before retreating as the sun climbs higher. Scholars interpret this as a deliberate reenactment of hierogamy—the sacred union of a male solar force with a female fertility deity. Such imagery, widespread across the Mediterranean, was here inscribed into the very landscape and synchronized with the heavens.

The sanctuary has been dated to the 5th or 4th century BCE, prior to the rise of large-scale Iberian settlements in the region. This suggests that religious practices shaped the land before urban development. It also connects to the broader ritual landscape of the valley of Jandulilla, where the heroon of El Pajarillo represents a hero’s descent to the underworld and triumph over death. Together, these monuments create a sacred route along which myth, territory, and astronomy intersect.

A. Idealized reconstruction of the El Pajarillo monument (Alberto Luque); B. Aerial view of the western visual basin (the arrow marks the hill of El Pajarillo, and the red line the eastern slope of the Cerro de las Canteras); C. PH๏τographic sequence of the rolling effect of the sun on the Cerro de las Canteras (observed from the heroon of El Pajarillo) (José Manuel Pedrosa). Credit: A. Ruiz et al., Complutum (2025). CC BY 4.0

The solstice held profound meaning to the Iberians. It represented the end of the solar hero’s journey into the darkness and his rebirth through union with the fertility goddess, thus ᴀssuring the renewal of the cosmos and community. By harnessing the course of the sun, the sanctuary of El Fontanar moved this mythic event into a lived experience, a ritual drama enacted in light and shadow.

Beyond its symbolic depth, the discovery highlights the Iberians’ advanced astronomical knowledge and their ability to integrate it with ritual architecture. The sanctuary was at the same time a cosmic calendar and a sacred site. More than a ruin, El Fontanar remains a living testament to how past societies attempted to find meaning in nature’s cycles and inscribed their myths into the land itself.

More information: Ruiz, A., Molinos, M., Esteban, C., Yanes, M., & Lechuga, M. Á. (2025). Paisaje, camino y liturgia en el mito del héroe de Iltiraka. Complutum, 36(1), 77–95. doi:10.5209/cmpl.102416