While Benidorm is known to host a tourist hotspot, it now lies at the center of a vital archaeological discovery thanks to the unique carvings it was found to hold.
Smiley Face and Phallus Carvings
Drawings of ancient smiley faces and a phallus were found at a historic 2,000-year-old Roman fort, Tossal De La Cala, in the Spanish city of Benidorm, MailOnline reports. The archaeologists came across the sudden discovery just three miles away from the party strip of Benidorm.
Ana Pellicer, the Historical and Cultural Heritage Councilor, mentions to De Alicante that it was a chance finding on a hill that served as a castellum seat towards the end of January 2020 after strong rains hit the area.
Since it was found over three years ago, the findings have been regarded with discretion. The pandemic also reportedly gave the archaeologists room to think about how they could exhibit these unique carvings without having them taken away from the historic area.
The dubbed "inscultura" was observed to depict three faces of humans, a phallus, and a cornucopia.
What Do These Ancient Drawings Mean?
The Jerusalem Post reports that the carving's purpose remains a mystery. This means that there is room to speculate about what they could mean. Such drawings may have had ritualistic value or could have been graffiti of some sort.
The Phallus, specifically, was regarded by the Romans as a vital symbol of the state's safety and masculine power. According to the University College of London, such depictions were quite prevalent during this historic period and were featured in furniture, lamps, and jewelry.
Phalluses that had wings also metaphorically symbolized fertility and divinity in several ancient depictions. Some of them were also used as lucky charms.
Hence, the depiction of the phallus in the carvings suggests that it could have had a protective significance of some sort.
The cornucopia, on the other hand, is also a mysterious addition. The Jerusalem Post adds that in Roman coins and reliefs, several deities linked to spiritual abundance, prosperity, and harvest are depicted carrying such a cornucopia. This boosts the possibility of the depiction representing a deity.
According to ancient mythology, the cornucopia was made when Heracles, the Roman version of Hercules, had a fight with Achelous, the river deity, and broke a horn of the latter.
Ms. Pellicer notes, however, that no similar carvings were found in ancient Roman territories until this point in time. With that, these findings were described as having remarkable historical significance, as nothing similar had been spotted there in the past.
The Jerusalem Post adds that recent excavations, which have been directed by the University of Alicante since 2013, on the area revealed it used to be a Roman settlement that armies of Quinto Sertorio occupied when the Sertorian Wars took place.
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