Verraco

The verracos (Spanish: verraco; Portuguese: berrão; literally 'boar'), in the Iberian Peninsula, are the Vettones's granite megalithic monuments, sculptures of animals as found in the west of the Iberian meseta - the high central plain of the Iberian peninsula - in the Spanish provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, Segovia, Zamora, Cáceres, Ourense and the Portuguese provinces of Beira Baixa, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Douro and Terras de Trás-os-Montes. Over 400 verracos have been identified.

The Bulls of Guisando, in El Tiemblo, Castile and León, Spain.
Verraco in Mingorría, Castile and León, Spain.
Verraco located in the Plaza mayor of Villanueva del Campillo. It is the Vettones's largest zoomorphic sculpture found until now in the Iberian Peninsula.
Verracos in Villatoro, Castile and León, Spain.
Mule of Villardiegua de la Ribera, Castile and León, Spain.
Verraco in Ciudad Rodrigo, Castile and León, Spain.

The Spanish word verraco normally refers to boars, and the sculptures are sometimes called verracos de piedra (pigs of stone) to distinguish them from live animals. The stone verracos appear to represent not only pigs but also other animals. Some have been identified as bulls, and the village of El Oso, Ávila, named for "the Bear", has a verraco which supposedly represents a bear. Their dates range from the mid-4th to 1st centuries BC. There are some similar zoomorphic monument markers in lands of Poland from the same period or older. [1]

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 open fields 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 too in the vicinity of the walled Celtiberian communities that Romans had called oppida.

Notable verracos

Portugal
  • Murça
    • Porca de Murça (literally the "Sow of Murça" in Portuguese, although the sculpture appears to represent a boar, i.e. a male rather than a female pig). The name has been taken to designate a red wine of the Douro district.[2]
  • Torre de Dona Chama
    • Berroa
  • Marvão
    • Verraco head (Portuguese: berrão) displayed in the Marvão Municipal Museum
      Head of berrão, with right eye clearly visible, found in the Abegoa area of Marvão. Today in Municipal Museum in Marvão.

Spain

Castile and León
Province of Ávila
Province of Salamanca
Province of Segovia
  • Segovia (2 verracos: a bull and a wild boar; today in the Museo Provincial).[3]
  • Coca (3 verracos: two in front the City Gate of the Town[3] and one embedded in the castle's walls).
Province of Zamora

Castile-La Mancha
Province of Toledo

Extremadura
Province of Cáceres

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)
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References
  1. "Wożniak, Zenon (2004). PROBLEM ISTNIENIA CELTYCKIEGO NEMETONU NA ŚLĘŻY (in Polish). Przegląd Archeologiczny, Vol. 52, pp. 131-183" (PDF).
  2. "Concelho de Murcaport". rtsmarao.pt.
  3. MARTÍN, José Luis (1992). The Segovian sculpture. Segovia. pp. 231–235. ISBN 84-606-0909-X.
  4. City Council of La Puebla de Montalbán (2010). "El VII aniversario del Museo 'La Celestina' acercará al público el verraco encontrado en La Puebla". Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
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