Ancestros e imágenes antropomorfas muebles en el ámbito del megalitismo occidentallas placas decoradas

Laburpena

Anthropomorphic figures characteristic of Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age burial records, can be of several types. One type is well represented in the megaliths in the Alentejo area. Their general appearance is defined by their flat section and the main use of schist like raw material. Known as “engraved plaques” they may also differ from other types in the technical treatments they have received. In our line of work it is vital to take into account relationships with other versions of anthropomorphic images inside and outside tombs, and in particular their connection with the full range of production of megalith builders. The chronology of the motifs painted on Iberian megaliths corroborates their use during the fifth millennium cal. BC, with the fourth and the third millennium cal. BC representing their most notable peak. This long course of development of ideographic references was probably one of the symbolic inspirations for incised bell beaker pottery, the surface of which reflects the same decorative technique, geometric patterns and use of dark colours.