Thymiateria on the coast. Shrines, pilgrimages and rituals in Iberian Contestania (3rd-2nd centuries BC)

This paper aims to study three sites of complex interpretation located along the Alicante coast and dated back to the late Iberian period (also known as ‘Ibero-Roman period’): the “shrine” area of Tossal de la Cala (Benidorm), Castillo de Guardamar (Guardamar del Segura), and the most ancient phase of La Malladeta (La Vila Joiosa). Available fragmentary data are treated from the point of view of some considerations developed by the Landscape Archaeology, the Postcolonial Theory, the Social Theory and the Anthropology. This paper argues that the three sites would act as coastal suburban shrines between 3rd and 2nd centuries bc. There are vestiges of the same kind of rituals in all of them: the amortization of table ware and amphorae, and the offering of female bust thymiateria. These spaces may privilege the community cohesion and its territorial claims in the critical context of the Punic occupation and the Roman provincialisation.