Asinan
Marco Virgilio García Quintela (autor)
Resumo
In some of the Iron Age hill forts of NW Iberian Peninsula (Gallaecia in Antiquity) public buildings used as saunas where found. Up to date some twenty examples are known differently conserved. They are distributed in two separated regional clusters (Northern and Southern). The Southern cases show a singular pedra formosa (?beautiful stone) to define the entrance to the sweat room, in some cases they are richly decorated with ?astral? motives. This fact, and the longitudinal pattern of the layout of the buildings, invites to search for eventual astral alignments. 21 saunas (10 northern and 11 southern) were measured. The results confirm the regional difference also in this aspect. Only three of the Northern saunas show solstitial orientations, but four of the Southern are oriented towards the southern lunar standstill plus other three towards dates compatibles with the mid season Celtic feasts.
Palabras chave
Iron Age. Gallaecia. Celtic calendar. Lunar standstill. Saunas. Pedras formosas.