Manuel Santos-Estévez

La estela de guerrero y la estela antropomorfa de Pedra Alta (Castrelo de Val, Galicia)

The aim of this article is to describe a stela discovered in the municipality of Castrelo do Val (Ourense) and realises a first analysis on its iconography, style and chronology. This stele presents a series of carvings with very similar to those found in warrior stelae of the southwest of Iberia, and a series of recesses that confer to the stone an antropomorphic appearance. The paper proposes the existence of three possible subsequent moments of use for this monument; the oldest one with Atlantic rock art, the second one with a warrior stele iconography and the third one when the recesses were made.

Deer and Horses in Atlantic Rock Art: A Structural Analysis of Iconography in the Landscape

The aim of this paper is to show how the structural analysis of the iconography and the landscape can make feasible an understanding of the meaning of some rock engravings. The distribution of several zones with hunting scenes in Atlantic rock art are analyzed, finding some constants in the distribution of some landscape characteristics. This distribution is observed on several sites and at various scales. The detection of structural similarities at several sites occupied in Late Prehistory by communities of the same ethnic group can be explained by the existence of a ritual developed in these rock art areas. This ritual could be similar to the “curros”, an old tradition related to wild horses. It is impossible to know if the curros are the survival of an ancient tradition, but it is possible to use the study of that tradition to understand, at least at a functional level, what is being represented on the panels with quadrupeds in Atlantic rock art.