A group of archaeologists from England and Spain has recently discovered a stone slab dating back to the Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago.
The slab was found in Southwest Spain, at the Las Capellanías necropolis in Cañaveral de León just this September, and is projected to change the experts' view on "ancient gender roles" in Iberian society.
The Newly Found Stela 3
The funerary stone slab, also known as a "stela," represents a noteworthy individual in Iberian culture. This particular "stela" was found alongside the cremated remains of a human's bones. The artifact includes a detailed depiction of a figure with male genitalia, beside two swords, and adorning a headdress and a necklace.
This newly discovered carving directly contradicts previous conclusions on past uncovered artifacts, which effectively deconstructs the archaeologists' notion of gendered connotations on what the symbols represented. Specifically, how they previously thought the headdress and the necklace were associated with the female form, and the swords with the male form.
What this New Discovery Means
Researchers from Durham University in the UK, among others, told The Independent that the stela that was found in the necropolis will change all of this. According to them, this specific slab "combines traits of 'headdress' and 'warrior' types, showing that the social roles depicted by these standardized iconographies were more fluid than previously thought."
They also added that because the new stela includes a depiction of male genitalia, it also denotes that the social roles imposed within Iberian society are not rigidly specific to any singular gender, but rather they could be "associated with different genders."
The research team has previously found two stelae in the same funerary area along a passageway that is connected to major river basins in Southern Spain. For the researchers, this could mean that the stelae may have served as a territorial marker in addition to its symbol as a funerary icon.
This archaeological endeavor is overseen by Durham University assistant professor Marta Diaz-Guardamino alongside her colleagues from the University of Huelva, and the University of Saville.
