Las estelas de guerrero de Almadén de la Plata (Sevilla). Morfología, tecnología y contexto

Abstract

This paper presents a study of two prehistoric ‘warrior’ stelae found in the north of the province of Sevilla (Andalusia, Spain) in November 2004. The circumstances of both discoveries – within a clearance cairn – are described, and both are categorised and analysed from various perspectives: their morphology, the symbolism of the figures and weapons represented and their petrology are each discussed. Although they are almost certainly a late Bronze Age phenomenon, little is known of the original context of warrior stelae, which are almost always found in secondary contexts. In this case, the spatial and territorial context of the find was investigated through both a magnetometer survey and a novel form of surface collection employing RTK GPS rovers for geolocation. Although the magnetometer survey revealed no features of interest, the use of GPS for the surface survey permitted the accurate registration of a scatter of quartzite pebbles around the clearance cairn, and clearly focussed on it. Quartzite is known to have been employed in megalithic constructions in other parts of the same region, and in the absence of another obvious explanation for this scatter, the authors suggest the possibility that the original context for these stelae may now be beneath the cairn, which possibly began life as a focus of prehistoric activity that included the use of the stelae during the late Bronze Age, and ended with the formation of the clearance cairn itself. The survey was undertaken by a joint team from the Universities of Southampton and the University of Sevilla, which has been carrying out in western Sierra Morena since the late 1980s, and builds on a previous collaboration between these authors, the Melonares Survey which was undertaken between 1999 and 2001.

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ORCID for David Wheatley: orcid.org/0000-0002-7265-704X

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