Rethinking Iberian ‘warrior’ stelae: a multidisciplinary investigation of Mirasiviene and its connection to Setefilla (Lora del Río, Seville, Spain)

Abstract

Iberian ‘warrior’ stelae have captured the imagination of researchers and the public for more than a century. Traditionally, stelae were considered ‘de-contextualised’ monuments, and research typically focused on the study of their iconography, paying little or no attention to their immediate contexts. As a result, despite the large number of these stelae known to date (c. 140) and the ample body of literature that has dealt with them, fundamental questions remain unanswered. This paper aims to demonstrate the potential of a multidisciplinary and contextual approach to push forward the research agenda on these monuments through a case study. Firstly, we introduce the Mirasiviene stela and the methods deployed for its investigation, which include a variety of digital imaging techniques, petrography, pXRF, intensive survey and multiscalar spatial analysis. Secondly, we discuss the results in relation to three main topics: stela biography, social practices and landscape context. Comparisons to the well-known nearby Bronze Age and Iron Age site of Setefilla are made throughout the discussion. Ultimately, this paper makes a case for the stelae of Mirasiviene and Setefilla being polyvalent monuments made by local artisans, that served both as landmarks and memorials in connection with dense late second and early first millennium BCE settlement patterns in the region. Probably linked to elites, ‘houses’ or kin groups of this time, stelae were set in symbolically charged places, liminal spaces nearby water, burials and pathways, attracting a range of ritual activities throughout the centuries. The study of the newly discovered Mirasiviene stela shows that multidisciplinary, cutting-edge non-destructive archaeology can shed significant new light on these prehistoric monuments, thus providing a glimpse of what in our opinion is a paradigm shift in the research of similar monuments throughout Europe.

Late Prehistoric Stelae, Persistent Places and Connected Worlds: A Multi-disciplinary Review of the Evidence at Almargen (Lands of Antequera, Spain)

“…A preliminary approximation to the topic that results from the review of the literature on stelae and nearby sites (data compiled in Díaz-Guardamino 2010) reveals that proximity to water resources is the most frequent variable (20 cases), followed by proximity to droveways and/or fords (14), proximity to burial mounds, accumulations of stones and/or cremation remains (12) and settlements (8). The fact that this concurrence of the largest number of variables occurs in instances that, like Mirasiviene and Setefilla, have been more intensively researched (Díaz-Guardamino et al 2019), underlines the archaeological potential offered by sites with stelae. It also reminds us that the vast majority of warrior stelae are still very poorly understood, essentially because nearly everything about their find-spots and landscape context remains unknown.…”

“…These monuments were polyvalent and performed diverse roles depending on the social context in which they were active (see also Enríquez 2006; Harrison 2004). Sometimes the spatial overlapping of funerary and commemorative monuments has proved to be a clear indicator of the persistence of some places—and monuments—in the collective memory of diverse communities over centuries and even millennia, as the necropolis of Setefilla (Seville) attests (Aubet 1997; Díaz-Guardamino et al 2015; 2019). The available evidence (including especially the ‘idol’) suggest that, by the end of the second millennium bc , Almargen had already been a persistent locus of strategic importance for a long time.…”

“…During the last decade, we have been developing this line of work through the study of recently discovered stelae at various locations in southern Spain, including Almadén de la Plata (Seville) (Díaz-Guardamino et al 2015; García-Sanjuán et al 2006), Mirasiviene (Lora del Río, Seville) (Díaz-Guardamino et al 2019) and Montoro (Cordoba) (García-Sanjuán et al 2017). In addition to studying the find spots intensively through field walking, geophysics or excavation and paying due attention to the materiality of the stone (lithological characterization, provenancing, re-uses), we have also deployed state-of-the-art digital technologies to study the stelae from a biographical point of view, including the chaîne opératoire of their manufacture, as well as overlaying of motifs or subsequent modifications (e.g.…”

Análisis compositivo y de profundidad de los grabados de la estela de Luna-Valpalmas mediante digitalización 3D por luz estructurada

“…Es necesario conocer las ventajas e inconvenientes de cada técnica 7 para saber cuál es la que mejor se ajusta a las necesidades de la investigación. El RTI y el escáner láser han sido utilizados en recientes trabajos sobre algunas estelas del suroeste (Diaz- Guardamino et al 2013Guardamino et al , 2015Guardamino et al , 2019. La primera ha permitido detectar segmentos de trazos desgastados, borrados intencionados o reconocer diferentes técnicas de trabajo del soporte.…”

Últimas investigaciones sobre las estelas de guerrero y diademadas de la península Ibérica

“…La escala de trabajo debe ser considerada micro-espacial, ya que se focaliza en los entornos más inmediatos del lugar de aparición de la estela. Una escala de actuación similar se siguió en las prospecciones desarrolladas por el Instituto de Arqueología del CSIC en torno al área donde fue encontrada la estela de Orellana de la Sierra, aunque en este caso el trabajo de campo se redujo a la prospección pedestre (Celestino et al, 2011), como también hizo el equipo de Díaz-Guardamino en torno a la estela de Peñaflor (Díaz-Guardamino et al 2019). Por último, también se realizó una prospección intensiva en el entorno del hallazgo de la estela de Luna-Valpalmas, aunque con resultados negativos a pesar de que también se llevaron a cabo estudios geofísicos y un sondeo arqueológico en el sitio del hallazgo (Conget y García-Arilla 2017).…”