In the land of tin men? Warrior stelae, mobility, and interaction in western Iberia during the Late Prehistory

Abstract

The warrior stelae, also called southwestern stelae or western stelae, emerge as one of the most characteristic manifestations of the Bronze Age in Iberia. Since the earliest findings more than a century ago, these monoliths have received great attention from scholars, becoming the subject of an intense debate, without a consensus having been reached on their meaning and sense. A slow but steady trickle of new findings, as well as the implementation of new approaches to their study, has only enriched these discussions in recent years. One of the most successful lines has been the spatial analysis focused on the relationship of these monuments with routes, transit areas, and resources of great value. It is within this line that this article explores the potential relationship that the stelae may have had with a critical mineral resource: the tin ores distributed in western Iberia, which is the highest concentration of this mineral in Europe. To do this, a detailed spatial analysis has been conducted in order to explore if the uneven density of these monuments across western Iberia may be linked with the presence of tin ores or, alternatively, with the control of the routes that allowed the circulation of this mineral by land.

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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01870-w
RESEARCH
In theland oftin men? Warrior stelae, mobility, andinteraction
inwestern Iberia duringtheLate Prehistory
JavierRodríguez‑Corral1 · CarlosRodríguez‑Rellán2
Received: 10 June 2023 / Accepted: 2 October 2023 / Published online: 31 October 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Abstract
The warrior stelae, also called southwestern stelae or western stelae, emerge as one of the most characteristic manifestations
of the Bronze Age in Iberia. Since the earliest findings more than a century ago, these monoliths have received great atten-
tion from scholars, becoming the subject of an intense debate, without a consensus having been reached on their meaning
and sense. A slow but steady trickle of new findings, as well as the implementation of new approaches to their study, has
only enriched these discussions in recent years. One of the most successful lines has been the spatial analysis focused on the
relationship of these monuments with routes, transit areas, and resources of great value. It is within this line that this article
explores the potential relationship that the stelae may have had with a critical mineral resource: the tin ores distributed in
western Iberia, which is the highest concentration of this mineral in Europe. To do this, a detailed spatial analysis has been
conducted in order to explore if the uneven density of these monuments across western Iberia may be linked with the pres-
ence of tin ores or, alternatively, with the control of the routes that allowed the circulation of this mineral by land.
Keywords Warrior stelae· Statue-menhir· Late Bronze Age· Western Iberia· GIS· Spatial analysis· Multivariate
statistics
Introduction
Western Iberia is home to a remarkable group of monuments
dating from around the Late Bronze Age (c. 1400/1250–850
BC): the so-called warrior stelae, also known as variously
southwestern or western stelae. Materially, they are monu-
ments consisting of shaped stones, commonly flattened into
a slab-like form, with a rich iconography centered on engrav-
ings of weapons and other objects of prestige. Although,
since the first discoveries more than a century ago, they have
become an essential source of information for this period in
the region, their study has posed many problems. Certainly,
the main one has been the “absence” of clear archaeological
contexts, either because they are located isolated in the land-
scape—without associated materials—or because they have
been reused in historical times, appearing outside of their
original position (CelestinoPérez and López-Ruiz2016:
160). This “decontextualization” (see critical review in Díaz-
GuardaminoUribe 2010: 31–35; Díaz-Guardamino Uribe
etal.2019) has made research traditionally focused on the
mere iconographic analysis of the engravings to approach
their chronology and functionality, a complex issue that has
been much debated.
New findings, fieldwork, and new methodologies have
helped to revitalize the study of these monuments in recent
years, opening new avenues of research. It can be pointed
out four main approaches. The most important has been the
iconographic line mentioned above. Throughout the study
of graphic motifs, the focus has been on three key aspects:
the chronology, the meaning, and the supra-regional connec-
tions with Europe and the Mediterranean, delving into issues
such as acculturation and, more recently, cultural hybridi-
zation. With all the problems that this approach implies, it
has been the most fruitful line of analysis, constituting the
core of our knowledge regarding the warrior stelae (Celestino
Pérez2001; Harrison2004; Díaz-GuardaminoUribe 2010;
* Javier Rodríguez-Corral
jrodriguez87@us.es
Carlos Rodríguez-Rellán
carlos.rellan@ugr.es
1 Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de
Sevilla, C. Doña María de Padilla, 41004Seville, Spain
2 Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de
Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja, 18071Granada,
Spain
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Araque 2018). In the early 1990s, a second approach was
taken into consideration: the spatial analysis, focusing on the
relationship of the stelae with the landscape (Ruíz-Gálvez
Priego and Galán Domingo, 1991; GalánDomingo 1993;
Galán Domingo and Ruiz-Gálvez Priego 2001), more spe-
cifically, on the connections between these monuments and
pathways, passage zones, and valuable resources. Without
ruling out a funerary dimension, already argued by the first
approach, the main contribution was to explore the role of
stelae as territorial markers. This line has been obviously
reinforced with the generalization of GIS-based spatial analy-
sis (Celestino Pérez and Salgado Carmona, 2011; Fábrega-
Álvarez etal. 2011; Costa Caramé2013; Pavón Soldevila
etal.2018; Díaz-Guardamino Uribe etal.2019; Celestino
Pérez and Paniego Díaz 2021).
A third approach springs from a critique of what was
described as “a strongly diffusionist approach” and “some
disproportionate emphasis on the quest for the oriental
parallels” (García Sanjuán2011: 537). Their funerary role
and their function as territorial markers are accepted but
interpreting them within the logics proper to the previous
monumental and iconographic substrates in the region
(García Sanjuán etal. 2006; García Sanjuán 2011; Díaz-
GuardaminoUribe 2010; Bueno Ramírez etal. 2019). In
recent years, the analysis of the materiality of the supports
and engravings has been added, resorting to high-resolution
digital photography (Díaz-GuardaminoUribe and Wheat-
ley2013; Jones etal. 2015; García-Arilla etal. 2021) and
petrological analyses (Blas Cortina 2010; Merino etal.
2020; Díaz-GuardaminoUribe etal. 2020; Araque etal.
2023). This has allowed us to begin to delve deeper into two
key issues: the study of the geological provenance of the
stone supports and the synchrony/diachrony of the engrav-
ings that make up the iconographic program of the stelae.
Despite the significant advances achieved, we continue
to face unresolved issues. These include, among others,
establishing the reason behind the preferential distribution
of stelae within a specific area of western Iberia. While this
has been argued to be related to different issues—such as
the control of routes, fords, and transit zones related to tran-
shumance (Galán and Ruiz-Gálvez 2001)—other possible
causes has been ignored. This is the case of the mineral
resources. And more specifically, its relationship with the tin
sources. Although it is true that this relationship has already
been argued by some scholars (Barceló 1989: 205; Bendala
2000: 70-71; Díaz-GuardaminoUribe 2010: 64; Mederos
Martín2012: 445-449; Araque 2018; Rodríguez-Corral etal.
2019), this has not yet been explored in detail through spatial
analysis.
This article focuses on exploring the potential relation-
ship between the stelae not only with the tin sources but
also the suprarregional interchange of this resource. At
first glance, some evidence seems to point in this direction.
Firstly, the emergence of these monuments coincides with
the rise of bronze metallurgy and the exploitation of the tin
ores in the region. Secondly, its distribution seems to overlap
with the areas that hold most of this mineral resource. And
thirdly, there seems to be archaeological evidence indicating
Atlantic-Mediterranean interactions in the territory where
the statue are located (Vilaça 2008). To carry out this study,
in addition to the stelae, the analysis has been extended to
the so-called statue-menhirs-shaped stones, conventionally
flattened into a tubular or slab-like form, carved with anthro-
pomorphic details. While both stelae and statue-menhir are
closely related spatially and ichnographically, the statues-
menhir are dated to earlier times, some of them being reused
later as warrior stelae. Their inclusion in the analysis allows
us to explore the spatial behaviors of the stelae in relation to
the previous iconographic substrate in the region.
Background
The purpose of the spatial analysis carried out in this paper
is to detect the existence of eventual regularities in the loca-
tion of both the stelae and the statues-menhir known nowa-
days in western Iberia and explore whether their distribution
and intensity (density) could have been related to the pres-
ence of tin sources in the area. To do this, we first compiled
a database with the location and main characteristics of a
total of 123 stelae and 20 statue-menhirs located in western
Iberia (Fig.1). This information was gathered by consulting
the works carried out by different authors who have ana-
lyzed different aspects of these monuments in detail (Celes-
tino Pérez2001; Harrison 2004; Díaz-GuardaminoUribe
2010; Celestino Pérez and Salgado Carmona2011; Vilaça
2011; Araque 2018), also including the findings of the last
few years.
All published locations of the monuments have been
reviewed and checked on cartographic maps for accuracy.
It should be noted that a number of these coordinates had
to be corrected either because they used an old frame ref-
erences (taking the Madrid Meridian as basis) or because
they did not coincide with the location of the finding. The
original location of a number of these engraved monoliths
is not known precisely, as they are old findings and/or there
are conflicting references. In these cases, we used the near-
est geographical point for which reliable information was
available (parish, municipality, plot, etc.). On other occa-
sions, although the exact location of the find is known,
they have appeared outside their primary context, reused
in constructions from the Iron Age, historical, or contem-
porary period. In these cases, this location has been con-
sidered as the original. Authors such as Galán (1993: 31)
or Costa (2013) assume that the weight of these monoliths
made their displacement far from their original positions
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Fig. 1 Location of stelae and statues-menhir in western Iberia
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difficult. However, as Celestino Pérez andPaniego Díaz
(2021: 77) has pointed out, some of these stelae were founded
several hundred meters from their original location. This is the
case, for example, of the stela from Cabeza del Buey III (Bada-
joz), which appeared displaced by more than a kilometer. Be
that as it may, while this problem of delocalization may affect
at micro- and meso-scale, it should not pose any major problem
in a macro-analysis such as the one carried out in this work.
Given the significant internal variability existing within
the Iberian stelae, we have decided to analyze them both
as a whole and each of the three subtypes defined through
their iconography: the so-called type B, type B0, and type
A stelae—also denominated in Celestino’s (2001) classifi-
cation as type I-A, type I-B, and type II-IV, respectively
(Fig.2). Type B refers to the so-called basic stelae. They
are slabs with graphic motifs typical of the Atlantic sphere:
a V-notched shield at the center of the composition and
a spear and a sword lying above and below, respectively.
Sometimes, conical helmets were added to this iconogra-
phy. All these artifacts can be traced throughout Atlantic
Europe. At some point, these basic stelae began to incor-
porate objects of Mediterranean origin such as mirrors,
combs, or brooches. These are commonly referred to as type
B0. Finally, type A stelae are more complex stelae, whose
iconography is characterized by the presence of anthropo-
morphs (Díaz-GuardaminoUribe2010).
In addition to archaeological data, we collected informa-
tion regarding the location of 1006 main tin ores known in
western Iberia (Fig.3). To do so, we consulted both previous
works (Díaz-GuardaminoUribe 2010; Currás Refojos2014;
Meunier 2019) and databases of the Spanish Instituto
Geológico y Minero (IGME) and the Portuguese Laboratório
Nacional de Energia e Geologia (LNEG). It should be taken
into account that not all of them were necessarily mined
during the Late Bronze Age. In this sense, no representative
map exists today to illustrate which sources were or were
not exploited in prehistoric times. Either this activity leaves
very little trace in the landscape or such evidence has been
destroyed by the exploitations of later periods. This turns
their archaeological identification into a very difficult task.
Thus, although there is evidence of exploitation in some
areas detected thanks to systematic surveying (Meredith
1998a, b; Rodríguez Díaz etal. 2013; Rodríguez Díaz etal.
2019), we do not know the reality of other parts of our study
area (ComendadorRey etal. 2017). Alternatively, our goal
has been to create a general distribution map that allowed
us to define tin rich areas—in which prehistoric exploitation
would have been more likely to occur—in contrast to those
other regions with no evidence of tin mineralization.
Using a 100-m resolution elevation map as a basis, we
created all the maps (water accumulation, slope, etc.) nec-
essary for the generation of anisotropic cost surfaces and
least-cost paths, which were created by using the r.walk and
r.drain algorithms in GRASS GIS 7.8 (GRASS Develop-
ment Team2020). Likewise, density estimates for both ste-
lae and statue-menhir as well as for tin sources were gener-
ated using the v.kernel algorithm with a Gaussian density
function. The statistical analyses were carried out in the R
software environment, version 4.2.0 (R Core Team2022),
using the “spatstat,” “sp” or “raster” packages (Baddeley
etal. 2015; Bivand etal. 2013; Hijmans 2022), among
others.
Establishing thespatial structure ofstelae
andstatues‑menhir
Our first concern was to statistically define the spatial struc-
ture exhibited by stelae and statues-menhir in our study
area. More specifically, our aim was to determine whether
these monuments have a regular—they tend to avoid each
other—or clustered distribution—they gravitate towards
each other—or if, on the contrary, they are independent of
one another. It was especially relevant to rule out this last
scenario since it would have implied that stelae and stat-
ues-menhir display a complete spatial randomness (CSR)
(Baddeley etal. 2015; Bivand etal. 2013). This would have
meant that the distribution of such monuments throughout
our study area would be totally random and, therefore, only
pure chance would explain their location. It would follow
Fig. 2 Types of monuments
(from left to right): Cordoba II,
Cordoba; Brozas, Cáceres (after
CelestinoPérez 2001) Mon-
temayor, Córdoba (after Ferrer
Albelda1999); and statue-men-
hir from Ataúdes (after Vilaça
etal. 2001)
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Fig. 3 Location of tin sources in western Iberia (sources: IGME and LNEG)
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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that all the variables explored in this paper (or any other, for
that matter) would lack explanatory power over the spatial
arrangement shown by stelae and statues-menhir.
To confirm or rule out CSR, we resorted to a test widely
used in spatial statistics for that purpose: Ripley’s K func-
tion (Baddeley etal. 2015). This is generally represented
as a graph (Fig.4) whose vertical axis shows the cumula-
tive and standardized average number of points (in this
case stelae or statues-menhir) lying within a given distance
(horizontal axis). The cumulative value of the set of real
points analyzed in this paper (black line) was compared
with those of 999 simulated sets of the same size as the
real one, but which do exhibit complete spatial random-
ness (the dashed red line and its “acceptance interval” with
a significance level of 0.05 represented by the gray enve-
lope) (Baddeley etal. 2015). If the values shown by the
set of real points (stelae and statues-menhir) were located
within the acceptance interval (gray area), these would
be consistent with CSR. One of the virtues of this and
other similar methods is their multi-scalar perspective,
which makes it possible to identify if a given set of points
shows different types of distributions at specific scales
(e.g., clustered at short distances versus dispersed or even
independent at larger scales) (Bevan etal. 2013; Bevan
and Conolly2006).
The results of Ripley’s K function suggest that none of
the four sets of points considered in this paper (type A, B,
and B0 stelae and statues-menhir) show a behavior consist-
ent with that of the 999 simulated sets that do exhibit CSR
(Fig.5). However, the distribution of type B stelae is very
close to the upper limits of the acceptance interval, while
both the type B0 stelae and the statues-menhir show distri-
butions in the smaller radii coherent to those shown by the
simulated sets of random points.
On the other hand, the fact that the values shown by
the monoliths analyzed in this paper are located above the
acceptance interval generated by the 999 sets of simulated
point sets, exhibiting CSR could be taken as an indication of
stelae and statues-menhir displaying a clustered distribution
(the opposite could be said if the values were located below
the acceptance interval). Such clustered structure can be
deduced—to some extent—from looking to the distribution
Fig. 4 Homogeneous Ripley’s K function test of complete spatial randomness for the different types of monuments analyzed in this paper (black
line) and against 999 sets of randomly distributed points (gray envelope showing the “acceptance interval”)
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maps of the engraved monoliths (Fig.6), which show a ten-
dency for these monuments to cluster in certain regions of
the study area.
Nevertheless, we applied the Hopkins-Skellam test to
statistically confirm that stelae and statues-menhir do show
such clustering tendency. This test makes it possible to find
out whether a given set of points has a clustered distribution
by comparing it—once again—with 999 sets of points ran-
domly distributed across the study area. The assumption is
that if a set of points (stelae or statue-menhir) are randomly
distributed across a given space, then the statistical distribu-
tion of distances from these points to their nearest neighbors
will be the same as the distribution of distances to any other
random point (Baddeley etal. 2015).
The Hopkins-Skellam produces an index (A) and a p
value. If A is equal to 1, the distribution of our set of points
should be considered random; if A is lower than 1, the dis-
tribution will be clustered; and if it is greater than 1, the dis-
tribution will be regular or dispersed (Baddeley etal. 2015).
The values well below 1 shown by type A (A: 0.022, p value:
0.001), type B (A: 0.113, p value: 0.002), and type B0 stelae
(A: 0.088, p value: 0.001) and by statues-menhir (A: 0.225,
p value: 0.003) confirm that these monuments are clearly
clustered around specific areas of the Western Iberia. More
specifically, the stelae are located in the southwest quadrant
of the Iberia (hence the name they have received for many
years: stelae of the southwest). These monuments can be
mainly found in the eastern half of Extremadura and at its
confluence with Andalusia and Castilla la Mancha, as well
as in the Guadalquivir Valley (Andalusia) and the Beiras
region, in Portugal. The statues-menhir, for their part, are
mainly located in the Portuguese territory north of the Douro
River (Fig.7).
Analysis ofthespatial distribution
ofstelae andstatues‑menhir asafunction
oftheintensity oftin sources andtransit
routes
Once it has been positively established that the stelae and
the statues-menhir analyzed in this paper tend to cluster, it
is only logical to think that their uneven distribution was
caused by one or—more probably—several variables act-
ing together. Thus, our next goal was to determine whether
the existence of tin ores is among the variables that might
explain what seems to be a preferential arrangement of these
monuments around specific regions within our study area.
The intensity or density maps of stelae, statues-menhir,
and known tin mineralization in western Iberia seem to point
towards a significant overlap between tin-rich areas and
those places where a higher concentration of statues-menhir
has been documented (Fig.8). Regarding the stelae, such
overlapping seems less evident, although those monuments
of this kind located further to the northwest are near impor-
tant stanniferous areas. A simple linear regression analysis
of the intensity kernels generated for tin sources, stelae, and
statue-menhir confirms the picture we have just described:
Fig. 5 Kernels maps showing the intensity or density of stelae, statues-menhir, and tin sources within our study area
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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the relationship between tin ores and statue-menhir seems
to be moderately relevant (r: 0.652), while it is virtually
negligible for the stelae (r: 0.110).
However, given the complexity of the dynamics we are
dealing with, we deemed it necessary to carry out a more
detailed and robust analysis of this relationship between tin,
stelae, and statues-menhir. Three main proxies were used to
try to measure such association: (a) the intensity/density of
tin sources in the vicinity of the monuments (measured in
number of sources or ores per square kilometer); (b) the cost
(in hours) of walking from the nearest tin source; and (c)
the intensity/density of potential land routes in the vicinity
of stelae and statues-menhir (measured in routes per square
kilometer).
The first of the variables (a) is—at least in theory—self-
evident: as we have described above, if there is indeed a
relationship between monuments and tin sources, the former
would be “attracted” by the latter. Thus, we should expect
to find a greater intensity of engraved monoliths in those
points, where there is also a greater density of ore. The other
two variables (b and c) account for the possible existence
of indirect, less obvious relationships. Thus, the stelae or
statues-menhir may be located not in the strict vicinity of
ore-rich areas, but in nearby territories easily accessible
from these sources (e.g., within a day’s journey on foot).
Similarly, the intensity of potential land routes was explored
in the light of the hypotheses suggesting that the location
of many of these monuments could have been linked not to
the control of tin sources as much as of the routes that make
possible the circulation of ore (and that of other goods and
raw materials), especially towards the main enclaves in the
coast of Southern Iberia.
To test the relationship, in terms of travel cost by foot,
between tin sources and the rest of the study area, an aniso-
tropic cost surface was created using the algorithm r.walk
in GRASS GIS and subsequently converting the result from
seconds to hours. In turn, the possible relationship of stelae
and statues-menhir with overland mobility patterns along
western Iberia was tested by computing a dense network of
more than 80,000 least-cost paths, which were calculated
following different strategies:
• Routes between tin sources and some of the main
enclaves located on the southern coast of the Peninsula,
where dynamics of interaction and presence of Mediter-
ranean agents are documented at an early date (the cur-
rent provinces of Cádiz, Málaga, Sevilla and Huelva).
• Routes between major tin sources.
• Routes “From Everywhere to Everywhere” (F.E.T.E.)
connecting points distributed at regular intervals on our
study area (White and Barber 2012).
• Routes connecting points randomly distributed
throughout the study area.
The routes calculated for each of these strategies were
subsequently merged, and a kernel raster map was cre-
ated showing the intensity (that is, the number of routes
per square kilometer) existing on each point of our study
area (Fig.9). Besides, a map displaying the sum of all the
routes generated for this paper was created to show the
location of the monuments in the framework of the general
mobility patterns within Western Iberia (Fig.10).
The logic behind this computation is quite straightfor-
ward: those places with a higher intensity of routes per
square kilometer (hotspots) would have had the potential
to act as significant nodes in the overland transit network.
Consequently, it would be precisely in the vicinity of those
areas where one should expect to find sites and monu-
ments originally intended to control, either effectively or
symbolically, the transit of people and objects through
a given territory. This approach has already proven to
be quite successful in measuring the transit association
of different types of archaeological sites, such as paleo-
lithic sites (Díaz Rodríguez 2019), prehistoric mounds
(Carrero-Pazos 2018; Rodríguez-Rellán and Fábregas
Valcarce 2017), rock art (Rodríguez-Rellán and Fábregas
Valcarce 2015), and even the statues-menhir themselves
(Fábrega-Álvarez etal. 2011). In our case, the fact that
many of the areas identified as having a higher transit
intensity coincide with the layout of significant histori-
cal routes—Via de la Plata, Roman roads, and traditional
cattle trails (España-Chamorro 2019; Fernández Centeno
and Moreno Manso 2017; Rodríguez Martín 2008)—may
be seen as a confirmation that the simulated mobility net-
works generated are, to a certain extent, representative of
the traditional paths existing within our study area.
Once we created the maps displaying the different vari-
ables of analysis taken into consideration for this paper,
our goal was to determine whether the uneven intensity
showed by stelae and statues-menhir depends on any of
the variables considered.
The existence of such dependence was explored by
means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Berman tests
(Baddeley etal. 2015). These make it possible to deter-
mine whether there are statistical differences between the
values of a given variable (e.g., “intensity of tin sources”)
observed in the exact location of stelae and statues-menhir
and those displayed by the very same variable in any other
random point within our study area. The existence of a sta-
tistically significant difference is essential for considering
Fig. 6 Intensity of routes crossing the study area according to the dif-
ferent strategies used for their calculation: routes from tin sources to
the south; routes connecting tin sources with each other; routes From
Everywhere to Everywhere (F.E.T.E.); routes connecting random
points within the study area
◂
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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that the location of the engraved monoliths is dependent
on a specific variable.
For this purpose, we created a simulated set of points
composed of the same number of elements than our real
population of stelae and statues-menhir but distributed in
a completely random manner throughout the study area.
This process was subsequently repeated a given number of
times (999, in this case). We chose to calculate the differ-
ence between the real and simulated sets of points using
three different tests (Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Berman’s Z1 and
Berman’s Z2), since each of them has certain strengths and
weaknesses compared to the others (Baddeley etal. 2015).
In this sense, we have opted for the very strict option of
considering as relevant only those variables for which sig-
nificant differences has been unanimously highlighted by
all three tests (Table1), even if it entails an increased risk
of underestimating the importance of some of the variables.
The results suggest that—when analyzing the stelae as
a single, undifferentiated group—these monuments show
a dependence on the variables “intensity of tin sources,”
“walking costs from tin sources,” “intensity of routes
between tin sources,” and “intensity of random routes.”
Fig. 7 Intensity of routes across
the study area considering the
sum of the more than 80,000
routes generated for this paper
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Meanwhile, the rest of the variables considered (“inten-
sity of routes between tin sources and the south,” “routes
F.E.T.E.,” or “sum of all the routes”) show significant dif-
ferences according only to one or two of the tests conducted
(Table1).
Curiously, if we analyze the stelae divided into groups
created according to their traditional typological classifica-
tion as mentioned above, we observe the emergence of quite
heterogeneous patterns. For instance, type A stelae show
only a significant dependence on the variable “intensity of
random routes.” None of the other tin-related variables are
significantly different in the locations of these monuments
compared to randomly selected points within our study area.
On the other hand, the intensity of both type B and B0 stelae
across western Iberia shows a significant dependence on the
variables “intensity of tin sources,” “walking costs from the
nearest tin source,” “intensity of routes between tin sources,”
and in the case of type B stelae on “intensity of random
routes” and “random routes” (Table1).
Meanwhile, the intensity of statues-menhir seems to be
dependent on the variables “intensity of tin sources,” “walk-
ing costs from the nearest tin source,” “intensity of routes
between tin sources,” and “sum of all routes.” Other two
variables—“intensity of routes connecting tin sources to the
south” and “intensity of random routes”—show significant
differences according only to two of the three tests (Table1).
In summary, our analyses suggest that the uneven inten-
sity showed by stelae and statues-menhir across the study
area may be dependent on, among many other factors, varia-
bles such as the intensity of tin sources per square kilometer,
the cost of walking from tin ores, or the intensity of routes
emerging on the framework of different mobility strategies.
Furthermore, most variables—except from “walking costs
from the nearest tin source”—show positive Berman’s Z
scores (Table1). This implies that both stelae and statues-
menhir show distributions with higher means than those
observed among the simulated, randomly distributed sets of
points within our study area. The fact that the only exception
Fig. 8 Relative distribution estimate of the intensity of stelae and statues-menhir as a function of the density of tin sources across the study area
(measured in ores per square kilometer)
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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to this dynamic is the walking cost from tin sources is quite
interesting, considering the hypothesis according to which
these monuments may be located on points readily acces-
sible from the tin sources.
To further explore how the intensity of the monuments
across the study area depends on the variables identified as
statistically relevant according to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov
and Berman tests, we carried out a relative distribution
estimate of stelae and statues-menhir as a function of some
of the variables described above. The graphical outcome
(Figs.8 and 9; SM_01) displays, on its vertical axis, the
estimate of how the intensity of the different monuments
(black line with its 0.05 confidence interval) depends on the
value of a particular variable, represented on the horizontal
axis (Baddeley etal.2015).
Figure8 displays the relative distribution estimate of
the intensity of stelae and statues-menhir as a function of
the density of tin sources across the study area. The graphs
clearly show the existence of different patterns depending
on the type of monument being analyzed. type A stelae are
grouped around very low densities of tin (between 0 and 1
sources per square kilometer). Meanwhile, type B and B0
stelae show a much more variable distribution, although the
estimate suggests a higher intensity of monuments on those
areas with higher ore densities (above 2 and even 2.5 sources
per square kilometer). Lastly, the statues-menhir exhibit a
“normal-like” estimate distribution, with sites mainly clus-
tered in areas with moderate densities of tin (between 1 and
1.7 sources per square kilometer).
The relative distribution estimate of the intensity of stelae
and statues-menhir as a function of the variable “walking
costs from the nearest tin source” is shown in Fig.9. The
four plots in this figure suggest that the engraved monoliths
tend to display their higher density within the 8-h isochrone
from the nearest source of tin (green square). This applies to
all monuments, but it is particularly eloquent for type B and
B0 stelae and—even more so—for statues-menhir, which
are located entirely within an 8-h walking radius from the
nearest source of tin. The reason for highlighting the 8-h
isochrone derives from the fact that eight is the approximate
Fig. 9 Relative distribution estimate of the intensity of stelae and statues-menhir as a function of the variable “walking costs from the nearest tin
source” (measured in hours from the nearest tin ore). The green square marks the 8-h isochrone
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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Fig. 10 Location of stelae and statues-menhir in western Iberia regarding the walking costs from the route hotspots identified in our calculations
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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annual average of daylight hours representative of all west-
ern Iberia. Therefore, the space traveled during this range of
time may be considered as a rough estimate of the maximum
distance covered by foot in a day’s journey (assuming, of
course, that people did not travel by night).
The Supplementary material accompanying this paper
includes the relative distribution estimate plots of the inten-
sity of stelae and statues-menhir as a function of the den-
sity of routes per square kilometer calculated following the
different strategies described above (SM_01). Again, the
results differ significantly depending on the specific type of
monument under consideration. Type A stelae, for example,
peak in intensity around those areas with a lower density
of routes. This seems to be true for all the strategies taken
into consideration except for the random routes, where these
monuments show a greater dispersion, including some speci-
mens in medium densities (between 500 and 600 routes per
square kilometer).
Type B and B0 stelae show, in general, a more pro-
nounced dispersion than type A, although almost all their
numbers seem to be in places where the density of routes
per square kilometer belongs to the lower half of the range
Table 1 Results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS), Berman, and area under curve tests for all the monuments and variables taken into account in
our analysis (*significative at 0.05 level)
Covariate K-S Berman AUC
D p value Z1p value Z2p value
Stelae (all types) Intensity of tin sources 0.2595 1.28e−07* 2.111 0.0347* 4.2546 2.09e−05* 0.6130
Walking cost from tin sources 0.2441 8.62e−07* − 3.1556 0.0016* − 4.4022 1.07e−05* 0.3853
Routes from tin sources to the south 0.2525 3.06e−07* 1.7156 0.0862 5.3952 6.84e−08* 0.6380
Routes between tin sources 0.2165 1.95e−05* 2.0375 0.0416* 4.124 3.72e−05* 0.5942
Routes F.E.T.E. 0.1322 0.02712* − 1.5746 0.1153 − 1.7061 0.0879 0.4554
Routes random 0.2917 1.62e−09* 4.3777 1.20e−05* 6.7502 1.48e−11* 0.6755
Sum of routes 0.2259 7.01e−06* 1.6886 0.0912 4.1935 2.75e−05* 0.6088
Type A stelae Intensity of tin sources 0.1938 0.0082* − 2.5154 0.0118* 0.29186 0.7704 0.5101
Walking cost from tin sources 0.1701 0.0288* − 1.1829 0.2369 − 0.49239 0.6224 0.4839
Routes from tin sources to the south 0.1979 0.0065* 0.967 0.3335 1.6624 0.0964 0.5649
Routes between tin sources 0.2184 0.0018* − 1.0537 0.2920 0.3994 0.6895 0.5136
Routes F.E.T.E. 0.1544 0.0604 − 1.3898 0.1646 − 1.3898 0.1646 0.4255
Routes random 0.2604 9.74e−05* 3.4085 0.0006* 4.3989 1.09e−05* 0.6508
Sum of routes 0.1456 0.0888 0.1997 0.8417 1.3369 0.1812 0.5459
Type B stelae Intensity of tin sources 0.4741 0.0007* 5.3533 8.64e−08* 4.2502 2.14e−05* 0.8081
Walking cost from tin sources 0.4865 0.0005* − 2.2633 0.0236* − 4.2292 2.35e−05* 0.1974
Routes from tin sources to the south 0.5297 0.0001* 1.8067 0.0708 4.3745 1.22e−05* 0.8075
Routes between tin sources 0.5402 6.73e−05* 5.6252 1.85e−08* 3.909 9.27e−05* 0.7470
Routes F.E.T.E. 0.4068 0.0065* 0.7679 0.4425 0.7703 0.4411 0.7005
Routes random 0.5611 2.81e−05* 2.5103 0.0120* 4.1491 3.34e−05* 0.8003
Sum of routes 0.5891 8.08e−06* 3.4973 0.0004* 4.7918 1.65e−06* 0.8476
Type B0 stelae Intensity of tin sources 0.6239 4.75e−08* 5.3143 1.07e−07* 5.0995 3.41e−07* 0.8274
Walking cost from tin sources 0.5225 1.31e−05* −2.6043 0.0092* − 4.9041 9.39e−07* 0.1857
Routes from tin sources to the south 0.6409 1.60e−08* 1.4687 0.1419 5.1799 2.22e−07* 0.8373
Routes between tin sources 0.6000 2.04e−07* 2.4302 0.0150* 4.5703 4.87e−06* 0.7929
Routes F.E.T.E. 0.1681 0.5669 − 0.8758 0.3811 − 0.87554 0.3813 0.4513
Routes random 0.3575 0.0085* 1.7215 0.0851 2.8613 0.0042* 0.6856
Sum of routes 0.4319 0.0006* 1.3025 0.1928 3.6623 0.0002* 0.7385
Statues-menhir Intensity of tin sources 0.6931 4.05e−10* 7.5648 3.89e−14* 6.0705 1.28e−09* 0.8730
Walking cost from tin sources 0.7059 1.51e−10* − 2.5555 0.0106* − 5.51 3.59e−08* 0.1422
Routes from tin sources to the south 0.5144 1.93e−05* 0.7397 0.4594 3.8248 0.0001* 0.7470
Routes between tin sources 0.6002 1.10e−06* 8.241 < 2.2e−16* 5.3778 7.54e−08* 0.8557
Routes F.E.T.E. 0.2298 0.2064 1.0603 0.2890 1.06 0.2891 0.5149
Routes random 0.2470 0.1463 2.6366 0.0083* 2.2544 0.0241* 0.6459
Sum of routes 0.4181 0.0011* 4.4004 1.08e−05* 3.6651 0.0002* 0.7344
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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of values found within our study area. However, it should be
noted that the relative distribution estimate plots calculated
for type B and B0 stelae tend also to identify (albeit with
considerable uncertainty) peaks around the middle values
of path densities (SM_01). Finally, the statues-menhir are
perhaps the monuments with the highest number of their
specimens located in places with high densities of routes
per square kilometer, as shown by the peaks of the estimates
located in the upper quartiles of density.
Based on the relative distribution estimate analyses, it
can be concluded that both stelae and statues-menhir tend to
be located in places within the study area where a medium
or low density of land routes per square kilometer exists.
This is true regardless of the strategies used to calculate the
routes. If we had to choose the strategy for which there is
a greater number of monuments located in areas with par-
ticularly important route densities, this would probably be
the “intensity of random routes.” On the other hand, neither
stelae nor statues-menhir seem to be in places with impor-
tant densities of routes connecting tin sources with each
other or with points in southern Iberia (SM_01). Still, even
if these values are not as higher as expected, we should bear
in mind that positive Berman’s Z scores pointed out that such
monuments show distributions with higher means of these
variables than those they would achieve if they were located
at random points.
So far, we have seen how stelae and statues-menhir show
a tendency to cluster around specific areas of the western
half of the Iberian Peninsula. Furthermore, several tests have
shown us that these variations observed in the intensity of
engraved monoliths across our study area may depend on
some of the variables explored in this article (Table1). How-
ever, it is quite possible that such dependence, albeit real,
is so weak that the variable or variables in question do not
actually have any discriminatory power in explaining the
spatial arrangement of these monuments.
Thus, the last step was to establish the discriminatory
power of the different variables considered as relevant in
the light of the results of the tests described in the previous
pages. This was achieved by means of the receiver-oper-
ating characteristic curve (ROC) and the area under such
curve (AUC). The ROC generates a graphical outcome (not
showed in this paper), while the AUC generates a numeri-
cal index between 0 and 1 which denotes the discrimina-
tory strength of the variable: values close to 1 or 0 indicate
strong discrimination, while values close to 0.5 suggest no
discriminatory power at all (Baddeley etal. 2015).
The results of the AUC (Table1) suggest that no vari-
ables show a real strength or effect on the intensity distribu-
tion when analyzing stelae as a whole, single group. This is
true even for those variables which have been pointed out as
significant by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Berman tests.
The same can be said of the type A stelae when analyzed
separately, since none of the variables considered in this
article have shown to have sufficient discriminatory power
either.
The picture changes substantially when we examine the
results of the remaining monuments. The AUC suggests
that all the variables considered in this paper would have
had a significant effect on the intensity distribution of type
B stelae (even those for which the Kolmogorov-Smirnov
and Berman’s Z1 and Z2 are not unanimous in highlight-
ing their significance) (Table1). For some of them, the dis-
criminatory power is, as a matter of fact, quite important.
This is the case for “sum of routes” (0.84), “walking cost
from tin sources” (0.19), “intensity of tin sources” (0.80),
or “intensity of random routes” (0.80). For type B0 stelae,
the variable that shows the greatest discriminatory strength
is “intensity of routes from tin sources to the south” (0.83),
which was considered as statistically significant by only two
of the three tests applied (KW and Berman’s Z2). In addi-
tion to this, two other variables show a statistically relevant
strength regarding the intensity of occurrence of type B0
stelae: “walking cost from tin sources” (0.18) and “intensity
of routes between tin sources” (0.79).
Lastly, the AUC suggests that five of the variables con-
sidered in this article show some discriminatory power in
explaining the uneven intensity of statues-menhir: “inten-
sity of tin sources” (0.87), “intensity of routes between tin
sources” (0.85), “walking costs from tin sources” (0.14),
“sum of routes” (0.73), and “intensity of routes from tin
sources to the south” (0.74).
All in all, four of the variables considered in this paper
(“intensity of tin sources,” “walking costs from tin sources,”
“intensity of routes from tin sources to the south,” and
“intensity of routes between tin sources”) shown a signifi-
cant strength in explaining the intensity of distribution of
type B and B0 stelae and also of statues-menhir. Meanwhile,
“sum of routes” shows strength for type B stale and statues-
menhir, “intensity of random routes” does it only for type B
stelae, and “intensity of routes From Everywhere to Every-
where” does not show a significant discriminatory power in
any of the monuments considered.
Discussion
The results of the spatial analyses carried out on the set of
stelae and statues-menhir known to date in western Iberia
have allowed us to observe how these monuments, far from
presenting a homogeneous distribution, tend to concentrate
around different regions within our study area: the South-
western quadrant of Iberia, for the stelae, and the Portuguese
territory north of the Douro River, for the statues-menhir.
However, both types of monuments are being documented
with increasing frequency outside their core areas (Bueno
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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Ramírez etal.2019), as exemplified by the presence of stelae
in Alto Támega (Northern Portugal) and Ourense (Galicia,
Northwest Spain) or even statues-menhir in southern areas
(Rodríguez-Corral 2015; Santos-Estévez etal. 2017). This
circumstance has led some authors to avoid using terms such
as “southwestern stelae” to refer to these manifestations
(Celestino Pérezand López-Ruiz2016).
The analytical outcomes described above suggest that
internal heterogeneity of the stelae should be considered.
Two different behaviors seem to emerge, which correlate
to the main groups identified within the typological clas-
sifications of these monuments: type A stelae and type B
stelae (the latter grouping together type B sensu stricto and
type B0 stelae). The differences between these two groups
can be detected in their geographic distribution (Fig.1), in
which the course of the Guadiana River may have played
some role. This could be concluded from the fact that most
of the type A stelae (76%) are located south and east of this
river, while—on the contrary—most of the type B and B0
stelae (78%) are located north and east of the Guadiana (a
ratio that rises to 100% in the case of the statues-menhir).
This uneven geographical distribution would have obviously
affected the connection that these monuments may have had
with the tin-rich areas, which are mostly located in the Ibe-
rian Massif, to the north of the Guadiana River (Fig.1).
This seems to be backed by the results of the statistical tests
carried out for this article. The intensity or density of type
B and B0 stelae and of statues-menhir has been shown to be
dependent, to a degree, on variables related to the presence
of tin, such as “intensity of tin sources” or “walking costs
from tin sources.” In sharp contrast, type A stelae show no
relationship with these or—in fact—with almost any of the
variables considered in our analyses.
According to our results, one could argue that the con-
nection that seems to exist between type B and B0 stelae,
statues-menhir, and tin may have materialized in two differ-
ent ways or with two different intensities. On the one hand,
there are monuments located in the immediate vicinity of
tin sources of some relevance (with a minimum distance
recorded between one and the other of barely 1000 m). In
these cases, it could be hypothesized that the “control” exer-
cised over the ores by the communities, groups, or individu-
als responsible for erecting such monuments could have been
direct and perhaps more intense and/or effective. However,
most of the engraved monoliths seem to be located not in
the strict vicinity of the tin sources, but in relevant points
of the territories with comparatively quick and easy access
from the ores. The fact that almost the entirety of the type
B and B0 stelae as well as the statues-menhir are located
within the 8-h isochrone from the tin ores (which, as we
discussed above, could be considered a rough estimate of the
maximum distance to be covered on foot in a day’s journey)
may point precisely in this direction. In these cases, one may
argue that the “control” exerted by stelae and statues-menhir
would not have been over the tin ores themselves, but per-
haps over the territories in which these and other potentially
significant resources were located.
Another interesting aspect of the analyses is the confir-
mation of the relationship between stelae, statues-menhir,
and the overland transit networks across western Iberia. This
association can be inferred in two ways: (a) from the ten-
dency shown by these monuments to be in places where, on
average, there is a higher density of routes per square kilo-
meter than that observed at random locations; (b) from the
fact that the intensity exhibited by the monuments within our
study area shows a statistically significant dependence on
the density of existing routes in their immediate surround-
ings. These results are not surprising at all, given that many
studies have highlighted the relationship between these
monuments and traditional paths, such as Roman roads or
cattle trails (Fábrega-Álvarez etal.2011; Galán Domingo
and Ruiz-Gálvez Priego2001; García Sanjuán etal. 2006).
The basic stelae (types B and B0) and statue-menhir seem
to be associated with routes connecting tin sources with each
other and with routes between non-specific origins and desti-
nations, such as routes between random points. The situation
is, in principle, less obvious if we focus on the transit routes
between tin sources and southern Iberia. This is largely due
to the starting premise of using three tests (Kolmogorov-
Smirnov, Berman’s Z1, and Berman’s Z2) to determine
whether the different types of monuments show dependence
with respect to the variables analyzed. While this triple filter
is aimed at ensuring a high degree of certainty in the results,
the fact is that it can ultimately generate the opposite effect,
underestimating the dependence of the monuments on the
variables under analysis. This could be the case, for exam-
ple, of the basic stelae. Two of the three tests (Kolmogorov-
Smirnov and Berman Z1) revealed a significant dependence
of these stelae on the variable “intensity of routes connecting
tin sources to the south.” These two tests, by themselves,
could be sufficient to assess some dependence with this vari-
able. It is the AUC analysis that seems to clearly reinforce
this idea. This analysis shows a high discriminatory power
of this variable “intensity of routes from tin sources to the
south” for both the menhir-statues and the basic stelae. This
is even more evident in the basic stelae that incorporate
Mediterranean elements (BO), showing this variable as the
one with the highest discriminatory power.
In relation to the overland transit networks across western
Iberia, as with the connection between monuments and tin
sources, the behavior of type A stelae is entirely different
from the rest of the monuments. While these showed an
important dependence on the different route networks, this
does not occur with the type A stelae.
In any case, stelae and statue-menhir do not seem to be
spatially related to the main hotspots in the transit networks
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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created for this work. The relative distribution estimate of
the intensity of stelae and statues-menhir suggests that—
except for a few cases—these monuments tend to be in
places with a medium or low density of land routes per
square kilometer. It is worth pondering if this limited rela-
tionship with the main nodes or hotspots within the route
networks created for this paper using 80,000 least-cost paths
implies that stelae and statues-menhir tended to be associ-
ated to a greater extent with secondary routes or with mobil-
ity strategies on a smaller scale, as other studies may suggest
(Fábrega-Álvarez etal. 2011).
It is also possible that—as with the tin ores—this rela-
tionship did exist, but it would have been taken place in a
less conspicuous or more indirect manner. Thus, many of
engraved monoliths may have not been erected in places
allowing them to control the main routes from up close (as
if they were some sort of road signs), but in areas that were
significant within the territories, these routes traversed. The
fact that 78% of type B and B0 stelae and 75% of statues-
menhir are located precisely within the 8-h isochrone from
these major land hotspots (Fig.10) may be interpreted as
evidence of the stelae working as symbols material at the
center of a critical territory due to its strategic resources.
In this sense, they must have constituted a socio-material
engagement ultimately creating (ideological) meaning or an
effect on the landscape.
Conclusions
How can we explain the distribution of these monuments
considering the variables analyzed? The contrast observed
in the distribution of the monuments seems to reflect diver-
gent behaviors in their relationship with tin sources and the
mobility patterns linked to this metal. Two groups can be
distinguished in this regard. The first would encompass the
statues-menhir and basic stelae (types B and B0) and the
second the complex stelae (type A). While the oldest ste-
lae (types B and B0) seem to show similar behaviors to the
menhir-stelae—and, therefore, seem to follow the logics of
the previous monumental and iconographic substratum—the
most recent stelae (A) adopt distributive logics that are far
from distributive logics.
This difference in the behavior of the stelae could be
reflecting the evolution and transformation over time of their
function and meaning. The oldest stelae are the basic ones
(types B and B0). Although there is no consensus on the
beginning of their chronology, we can place them, depending on
the author, in 1400/1200 BC (Díaz-GuardaminoUribe2010),
1200 BC (Harrison 2004), or 1100/1000 BC (Celestino
Pérez2001; CelestinoPérez and López-Ruiz 2016). Be that
as it may, these stelae seem to inherit the spatial behavior of
the statue-menhir. In both cases, the monuments are confined
to the tin belt, being clearly located within isochrone 8 with
respect to the main tin sources. Also, as the analyses have
determined, both show a relationship with mobility patterns
between tin sources, as well as with routes between tin sources
and routes to southern Iberia, although to a lesser extent.
Symptomatically, this spatial correlation seems to
extend to graphic motifs. The basic stelae, as Díaz-Guar-
daminoUribe (2010: 403) has already pointed out, may
have emerged as a renewed form of the iconography and
ideology of the statue-menhir. In both case, weapons,
emblems, and other prestige objects were engraved, work-
ing as symbols of power and identity. Likewise, a large
group of these stelae (BO) begin to incorporate at some
point in their iconography elements of Mediterranean ori-
gin, such as mirrors, brooches, or combs. At the same time,
deposits from the Late Bronze Age also reveal presence of
Mediterranean elements in the region (Vilaça 2008). The
appearance of these objects together with other Atlantic
objects would therefore be influencing the same idea: the
existence of interaction processes between the northwest
(area that contains the tin sources) and the southwest of
Iberia (area that functions as an interface between the
Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds) (Celestino Pérez and
Salgado Carmona2011: 437). The spatial and statistical
analyses carried out on the basic stelae seem to reveal a
dependence not only between these monuments and the
tin sources but also in relation to the transit routes inter-
connecting the tin sources with each other. Likewise, the
results of the analyses may reveal patterns of connectivity
with southern Iberia.
However, the type A stelae show different patterns from
a chronological, spatial, and iconographic point of view.
Depending on the authors, diverse dates have been proposed:
1200–1050 BC (Díaz-GuardaminoUribe 2010), 1000–750
BC (Harrison 2004) or in the 9th and 8th centuries BC
(Celestino Pérez2001; Celestino and López-Ruiz 2016). Be
that as it may, their distribution is dated more recently than
the basic stelae. Their spatial distribution clearly distances
them from the logics of interaction and mobility of the basic
stelae. Thus, while the basic stelae reveal a continuity with
the previous iconographic substrate (statues-menhir) and a
connection with the tin areas, the complex stelae (A) move
away from that substrate and do not seem to be spatially
related to that mineral resource in any of the analyses car-
ried out. Behind this disconnection, perhaps we should see a
change in the connectivity and mobility patterns in western
Iberia at the end of the Late Bronze Age.
Two suggestions can be put forward. Firstly, while more
than 50% of the total of type A stelae are accumulated in
the Zújar Valley (between Andalucía and Extremadura),
the basic stelae are absent. This significant concentration
of type A stelae could be read in the framework of rela-
tions and communication between the south and the north,
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Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023) 15:172
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172 Page 18 of 20
as Celestino (2011: 435) has proposed. Thus, its apparent
dissociation with the tin sources could simply be because
“its importance would derive fundamentally from its inter-
mediary role in transit areas and not in direct relation to its
exploitation” (GalánDomingo 1993). The fact is that our
analysis has not been able to confirm the relationship of
the type A stelae with access routes from the south to the
tin sources. Secondly, it could be argued that the appear-
ance of type A stelae may have coincided with the loss of
importance of the terrestrial route to the tin territories to the
detriment of new interaction patterns such as, for example,
those from the estuaries of the rivers of the Atlantic coast
of Iberia. If this were so, then the fact that the type A stelae
(Fig.2) do not show any connection with tin encourages us
to consider other valuable recourses that were also impor-
tant for the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age communities of
the southwestern Iberia, such as livestock or other mineral
resources such as silver.
In sum, in the tin areas, the basic type B stelae maintain a
clear Atlantic character, showing links (ideological, icono-
graphic and spatial) with the iconographic substrate of the
statues-menhir. Likewise, the analyses reveal that their loca-
tion in these, like the menhir-statues, seems to be related to
tin areas—although not in most cases in direct relation to the
ores. The incorporation of Mediterranean elements to their
iconography (BO) seems to point to processes of interaction
with southern Iberia that, according to the results presented,
should be encouraged by this critical resource. As a result,
those communities that seem to appropriate through their
monuments the stanniferous territory begin to use exogenous
Mediterranean elements in the construction of their identi-
ties. Finally, as we have seen, this reality contrasts with ste-
lae A. Their more complex iconography incorporates more
Mediterranean elements than the basic ones. However, this
cannot be explained as a process of intensification of previ-
ous patterns. On the contrary, it happens within a process
of rupture with basic stelae and statues-menhir at different
levels. Symptomatically, sometimes, old statues-menhir are
reused as support for these type A stelae. As Díaz-Guar-
daminoUribe has argued, the A format seems to be “more
detached from the traditional iconography (statue-menhir)
than the B and B0 format stelae” (2012: 409). Similarly, it
is not only detached from the sources of tin but also from
the potential routes that would connect with those areas rich
in that mineral.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplemen-
tary material available at https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s12520- 023- 01870-w .
Authors contribution JRC: conceptualization, formal analysis, meth-
odology, investigation, visualization, funding acquisition, writing
(original draft, writing), review, and editing. CRR: formal analysis,
methodology, investigation, visualization, writing (original draft, writ-
ing), review, and editing. Both authors read and approved the final
manuscript.
Funding Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Sevilla/
CBUA Javier Rodriguez-Corral is a fellow of the VI PPIT-US funded
by Universidad de Sevilla. Carlos Rodriguez Rellán is an EMERGIA
fellow (EMERGIA20_00349), funded by the Secretaría General de
Universidades, Investigación y Tecnología de la Junta de Andalucía.
This research was also funded in the framework of a research project
with reference number PID2022-139879NB-I00, funded by the Minis-
terio de Ciencia e Innovación of the Government of Spain.
Declarations
Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
bution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adapta-
tion, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,
provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes
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permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will
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