Some civilizations that left a deep mark on Baenense lands
THE IBERIAN AND ROMAN REMAINS IN THE AREA ARE VERY RELEVANT
In the heart of Turdetania, the municipality of Baen stands out for the numerous sites where the Ibera culture plays a leading role. The cities that one day rose in Torreparedones, the Cerro del Minguillar or the Cerro de los Molinillos, to name a few examples, were already of notable importance before the arrival of the Romans.
Baena has one of the most important archaeological parks in Andalusia
The Iberian culture left testimonies of great relevance in the municipality and proof of this is that in the National Archaeological Museum, along with pieces as relevant as the Lady of Elche or Baza, the lioness of Iponuba or Baena is also exhibited. This type of zoomorphic sculpture, of which there are other samples in the Museum of Iberian Art in Jaén, in Córdoba and in the Historical Museum of Baena, are, without a doubt, some of the most significant examples of an autochthonous culture that had a great development in the territory. Among the numerous sites from this period that are located in the area, the one corresponding to the Archaeological Park of Torreparedones is undoubtedly the most important. The two sanctuaries from which a large number of ex-votos have been extracted, the walled perimeter of which a large part of its layout is preserved or the city’s own urban planning that was respected even after the colonization of Rome, allow us to approach a ancestral past that is complemented by the rich collection of ceramics, weapons and many other vestiges of this period that are displayed in the local museum.
For their part, the sites that make up the local archaeological chart are of great importance for the study of the Roman past of one of the most important provinces of the Empire: Baetica.
