Slate idol
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Slate plate idols ( English Schist idol plaques or engraved slate plaques ; Portuguese Placas de xisto ; Spanish Alentejas or Ídolo placa en pizarra or Idolos Megaliticos ) are small, thin, trapezoidal plates, usually rounded at the corners, made of amphibolic slate (very rarely made of hard sandstone ) which were found in the younger layers of southern Portuguese and southwestern Spanish megalithic systems and dome tombs . Since they are decorated and have a hole at the top for attachment, they were probably worn around the neck - whether it is visible or hidden under clothing.
Locations
The slate slates, which are often anthropomorphic or decorated with eye motifs, are found in southwestern Spain ( Dolmen of Alcántara ) and in southern Portugal. They no longer occur north of the 40th parallel.
description
Most of the incised decorations on the 10 to 20 cm high but only 5 to 10 mm thick idols are straight; Curved or curved shapes, on the other hand, are rather rare, which is very likely due to the material used (slate). Such geometric decorations are rather rare in the classical megalithic culture and therefore probably indicate a late production (around 3000 to 2500 BC).
The spectrum of finds in long-standing facilities in the south of Portugal and in parts of Spain also includes: Báculos , hatchets , flint blades , limestone idols , combs, ceramics, bone tools, lunulae , needle heads, pearls, arrowheads , sandal and stick idols, stone vessels, balls and -plates.
function
Slate idols belong to the pectorals and were used by their - living or deceased - wearers as amulets with a disastrous function. In the medium-sized polygonal Anta of Pedra Branca , near Monturn, Melides (Concelho Grändola, Senibal district), the dead mostly seem to have been given one slate idol, in a few cases two or three.
Guys in Spain
- Semi-anthropomorphic in 7 variants
- trapezoid, abstract, anthropomorphic in 17 variations
See also
The decorative motifs of a few slate idols have a certain similarity to those of the statue menhirs , but the respective areas of distribution are not identical.
literature
- Andreas Gut : The slate idols of Portugal based on the estate of Vera Leisner. Unpublished master's thesis at the University of Tübingen in 1990
- Martín Almagro Gorbea : Los Idolos del Bronce Hispano . Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid 1973
- Philine Kalb : large stone graves and menhirs. In: Hermanfrid Schubart u. a. (Ed.): Finds in Portugal. Muster-Schmidt, Göttingen / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-7881-1512-2
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
