Assessing the territorial influence of an Iberian worship site. The chemical characterisation of the terracotta from the Iron Age sanctuary of La Serreta

Abstract

This paper presents the study of the prestigious terracotta votive figurines from the Iberian Iron Age sanctuary of La Serreta (Alicante province, Spain) composed of 174 items. Portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) was used to identify elemental markers that permit us to observe the differences between local and non-local terracotta figurines and furthermore to evaluate the geographical influence of the La Serreta sanctuary using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLSDA) statistical method was also used to classify the figurines of uncertain geographical origin. The resulting groups were related to typological and stylistic groups of figurines and the distribution in different sites in the region.