A squad of archaeologists working in southwest Spain have discovered a Bronze / Iron Age funerary Oliver Stone with intricate carvings that challenge a long - standing interpretation of gender delegacy andsocial rolesin prehistoric historic period . The find has the squad pretty excited , and the results are likely run to rock thing up quite a bit .
The excavation is place in the 3,000 - class - previous funerary complex of Las Capellanías , in the municipality of Cañaveral de León , Spain . Here , researchers have unearthed an ancientstela , a standing funerary stone slab sport carvings that mark the site as belong to important individuals . basically , it was a kind oftombstone , though sometimes they could be used for inscription and memorial as well .
On this particular stone , a human bod is depicted with carefully carve side , hands , and animal foot . The figure is shown wear a headdress and a necklace – traditionally symbol link up with the distaff physical body – but the figure is also holding two swords and has male private parts .
The mixture of these feature article on the funerary stone has go the archaeologists to reconsider their understanding ofgenderwhen represented by these carvings , which may have been more runny than previously assume . It would seem that such symbolism was not needfully restricted to one gender or another .
The site at Las Capellanías
This is not the only stela to have been see at this site . So far , the archaeologists have chance on two other stones which are provide worthful insight into thefunerary ritualsfrom this epoch .
Interestingly , the situation of the Las Capellanías funerary building complex is located in what would have been a significant natural pathway that linked it to a river drainage basin . Such a connection would have made it a kind of “ communication highway of its day ” , Durham University explained in astatement .
The team believe the position of Las Capellanías on such a highway is significant in itself . It is potential that thestelaealso worked as territorial markers , not just funerary Stone .
