Summary Special buildings used as saunas have been found in certain large hillforts in the north of Portugal and in the Cantabrian coastal area of Asturias and Galicia in Spain. The principal aim of this study is to highlight the importance of these buildings in the archaeology and art of the European Iron Age, where they are very rarely mentioned. Two approaches are developed: in Parts 1 and 2, we explain the structure of the buildings, their function, and the current debate surrounding their dating. In Parts 3 and 4, further analyses are developed on their position in the landscape, associating the saunas with the public life of the hillforts, and on the decorative structure of the pedras formosas (‘beautiful stones’) found in some of them, and their relation to certain artistic trends in so‐called Celtic art.
CLAVE: Edad del Bronce. Edad del Hierro. Petroglifos. Ritos celtas. Pontevedra (provincia). Orense (provincia). KEYWORDS: Bronze age. Iron age. Petroglyphs. Celt rites. Pontevedra (province). Orense (province). RESUMEN Desde dos disciplinas distintas: la antropología histórica y la arqueología, se abordan algunos rituales de investidura real en el mundo indoeuropeo. Partimos de referencias literarias y etnográficas a costumbres y ritos propios de la toma de posesión de su cargo por los reyes en los que destaca el detalle de que debía poner su pie sobre cierta roca. Relacionamos estos testimonios con la presencia en Galicia de petroglifos con podomorfos de las Edades del Bronce y del Hierro, y se formula la hipótesis de que en ellos se celebrasen ceremonias del tipo referido en los textos. SUMMARY Royal coronation rituals in the Indo-European world are discussed from the points of view of two different disciplines, historical anthropology and archaeology. The paper starts with literary and ethnographic references to coronation rituals and rites, with special emphasis with that of placing the foot on a special rock. The relationships between these sources and the presence of carved rock footprints in Galicia, dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages, are then analysed and the possibility that these carvings reflect the ceremonies described in the texts is discussed.
There are few papers that focus on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of earthen mortars. These mortars are abundant in historical buildings in northwestern Spain. The Basílica da AscensiónyForno da Santa building is an unfinished church built on a previous structure that was transformed into a crypt (Allariz, Ourense, NW Spain). Previous archaeological studies established a sequence of phases of construction, the first dating back to the Iron Age, with significant changes occurring in the Early and Late Medieval ages. The only datable material in the crypt is earthen mortar. Thus, eight mortar samples (seven joint mortars and one wall infill) were taken, seven of them dated by OSL. The dose rate was assessed, and the expected equivalent doses estimated based on the established archaeological age. Several grain sizes (from fine to coarse) were used in small multigrain aliquots to assess the equivalent doses and ages. No evidence of partial bleaching was observed in most samples and grain sizes. The resulting ages are younger than expected for most samples. This is explained by the fact that joints were repaired with new mortar from the 16th century onwards.
Urbanism in most areas of Western Europe occurred at the time of the Roman Empire when several hundred new towns were founded, notably under Augustus. Those towns were planned to incorporate astronomical phenomena as images of propaganda of their rulers, or to connect the city to the gods. The visual effect of the Sun rising in line with the orientation of the city at a given moment in its yearly movement was thus sought and incorporated for its ritual meaning. Special moments allegedly related to Augustus were considered, in particular Winter Solstice and Autumn Equinox.
Treatment of hypothalamic cells in monolayer culture with transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGFbeta1) significantly reduced both basal and cAMP-induced somatostatin messenger RNA (mRNA) levels and somatostatin secretion. This inhibitory effect was dose- and time-dependent and not mediated by glial cells, as it was also observed in glial-free hypothalamic cell cultures treated with cytosine arabinonucleoside. TGFbeta2 and -beta3 mimicked the actions of TGFbeta1, which indicated that the three isoforms of the TGFbeta family expressed in the central nervous system displayed similar effects on the somatostatinergic neurons. The blockade of synthesis of proteins with either cycloheximide or puromycin for 24 h prevented the inhibitory effect of TGFbeta1 on somatostatin mRNA. This implied that the reduction of this mRNA by TGFbeta1 required de novo protein synthesis. We next studied whether TGFbeta1 acted at the transcriptional or posttranscriptional level by altering the stability of somatostatin mRNA. Examination of the rate of disappearance of somatostatin mRNA by Northern blot, after inhibition of mRNA transcription with either actinomycin D (AcD) or 5,6-dichloro-1beta-ribofuranosyl benzimidazole revealed that TGFbeta1 did reduce the stability of somatostatin mRNA. This effect was observed when we pretreated the cultures with TGFbeta1 4 h before the addition of AcD, but not when we administered TGFbeta1 simultaneously with AcD or 5,6-dichloro-1beta-ribofuranosyl benzimidazole. Altogether these results demonstrated that the treatment of hypothalamic cells in culture with TGFbeta1, TGFbeta2, or TGFbeta3 resulted in a decrease in somatostatin mRNA levels and somatostatin secretion. TGFbeta1 reduced the steady state levels of somatostatin mRNA by inducing the synthesis of a protein (s), that appears to accelerate the degradation of the mRNA of somatostatin. Whether TGFbeta1 has additional effects on the transcription of the somatostatin gene will require further study.
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