The ecological heritage is not stable, but is always in constant changes and modifications due to aggression, laziness or negligence. However, it is something that does not happen often. But there are occasions in which the appearance or recovery of unknown pieces arises or that were considered lost, as is the case of the Celtic zoomorphic sculptures called boars. find out about what mysteries veto boars hide reading this post. It is most interesting!
There was nothing that spoke about the existence of strange granite sculptures in the shape of bulls, pigs and wild boars, not even in the Roman chronicles, nor the Visigoths, nor the Islamic ones on the Iberian Peninsula. They were sculptures that abounded to the west of the Mesetas.
It was at the end of the Middle Ages when a text written around the 13th century appeared, entitled “El Fuero de Salamanca”, there reference was made to figures known as boars.
What are veto boars
The veto boars are figures made in granite in the shape of bulls, pigs, boars and sometimes of unidentifiable animals. They are sculptures typical of the Vetones and, over time, around 400 copies have been found. But to that number, it will surely be necessary to add those that are still hidden and that have not been discovered yet.
The boar figures do not have many details, but rather have almost abstract shapes, conventional and recognizable. Many of them present male sexual organsbut the most curious thing is that none with female sexual organs.
Another peculiarity of these sculptures is that they are all in the same posture, standingbut there are some that have a lunge-like position. Regarding their size, they can vary from each other: some are half a meter long, but others can reach up to three meters. Now, regarding the typology, they have identified five kinds of bulls and four kinds of pigwhich represent various styles belonging to different regional workshops.
Origin of Vetton boars
The Vettonian boars inhabited part of the Iberian Peninsula and Lusitania. Their customs and culture spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The Vetones was the name given by Greek and Roman historians to the group of pre-roman settlers of celtic culture that they lived in a sector of the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and that, more or less, they shared a common denominator.
Their settlement was located in the Duero and Tagus riversespecially in the territories of the Spanish provinces of Avila, Salamanca and Caceres. Also in part of the Toledo and Zamora. With respect to their culture, they were characterized by being warriors and ranchers. The veton communities They were led by a stratocracy They were the ones who controlled the resources, especially the cattle.
Its buildings were located in elevated settlementsamong them the castros or Uppida de Ulaca, Sanchorreja, El Raso, Las Cogotas and Mesa de Miranda.
Where are the Vetton boars
The Vetton boars have been located in different places, such as the archaeological excavations carried out in 2018 and 2020, in the Avila city walls and others inside a courtyard of the Avila cathedral. Also in the town of Vicolozano About 5 kilometers from the capital, three more sculptures were discovered, one of them at a roundabout on the road that connects Ávila with Villacastín. A second of them in the garden of an inn and the third that was going to be thrown into a dump and that, today, adorns a restaurant.
Other places where they have been found is in white eyes, in Ávila where three more figures have been found in the palace and site of Tabladillo, made up of a single sculptural group. Three of them were discovered in Village of the Boy King, one of them in a haystack. 32 kilometers from Ávila, in the municipality of Papatrigo, two boars were found embedded in the belfry of the hermitage of Santo Tomás Apóstol.
On the other hand, another animal was discovered 60 kilometers from the capital, in San Miguel de Corneja in a haystack collapse. Some specimens were located next to the snout creek, tributary of the Tagus. They were recovered and removed from the waters and are now in the process of being restored.
Two more boars were found in Paraleda de San Román (Cáceres), submerged under the waters of the Pantano de Valdecañas. Also in Jarandilla of La Vera where it was embedded inside the church of Santa María de la Torre, right on the staircase that leads to the bell tower.
Mysteries and legends of the Vetton boars
According to the testimonies of Gonzáles Dávila in his work “Abulense Ecclesiastical Theater”, boars were known as “bears”, also in Portugal they were called like that. There is another confusion regarding these boars, considered as female animals when in fact they are clearly expressed with male sexual organs. For this reason, they have reached our days with names such as: “Porca de Murca”, “Porca de Failde”, “Marrana Cárdena”, etc.
There are theories that boars are Related to Hercules. In 1596, Gil González Dávila said that the way the Romans placed the bull figure on the Salamanca bridge was very similar to how they placed it elsewhere, next to the rivers. In the main rivers of Spain the bulls of Guisando appeared and the torillos were just a memory that Hercules left where he founded cities.
Other authors consider that the sculptures, being bulls and wild boars, seem to have a character and symbolism with respect to the fable of Hercules and the pigs with respect to the cult paid to the deities of the earth. A very widespread meaning of this type of boar sculptures was to have considered them milestones and milestones with respect to the ravines that the transhumant cattle followed.
Pigs were considered Celtic simulacra that had the character of landmarks to demarcate regions, counties or alphors. In the opinion of the author Paredes Guillén, the bulls, pigs and the rest of crude figures have been milestones, milestones or guides used to mark the shepherd’s paths. In ancient times there must have been many, due to the number of names of places or peoples considered original.
If you like legends, be sure to read the following post about the legend of the crying children. Although yes, it’s a little scary…