Stones of Sun and Shadow: A Solstice Sanctuary in Iberia

When the first light of the winter solstice crept over the hills of Jaén in southern Spain 2,500 years ago, it did more than signal the turning of the year. It set in motion a ritual drama scripted in stone. At El Fontanar, near the modern town of Jódar, the sun struck the tip of a towering monolith. Its shadow stretched forward, reaching across the ground until it touched a hollow in the rock shaped uncannily like a womb.

A. Aerial view from the east of El Fontanar; B. Enlarged detail of the limestone outcrop and the terrace monument; C. Measurements of the rock cavity (female genital organ); D–E. Measurements of the stone monolith (male genital organ). Credit: A. Ruiz et al., Complutum (2025). CC BY 4.0

Archaeologists now believe¹ that this sanctuary transformed a celestial event into a myth made visible. The monolith, rising more than five meters high, and the shelter behind it were not just geology but cosmology. One stood for the male principle, the other for the female, their union enacted in light and shadow at the darkest point of the year.

“At dawn on the solstice, the monolith’s shadow entered the recess of the rock shelter, creating a cosmic hierogamy—the sacred marriage of the sun and the earth,” write Ruiz, Molinos, Esteban, Yanes, and Lechuga (2025).