El Viso III

Alicia Perea* interprets this image as representing male dominance over women as property, but in fact the female figure is central and the men flanking her could as easily be interpreted as attendants. From El Viso de los Pedroches, north of Córdoba, southern Spain.

Perea, Alicia, "Entre la metáfora y el mito: La representacion del lo femenino en la sociedad iberica." Marq, Arqueologia y Museos, No. 1, 2006, 49-68

 

This chalcolithic menhir from Cabeza del Buey had petroglyphs added in the late bronze age. Although the concentric circles are interpreted as shields, they clearly have other significances. (Note that in the example at top, and in many others, the shields are not held, often appearing above and below the men, and frequently in outsize proportion to them.

This example shows sexual symbolism in the vulva-like shield with spear pointed toward it (and the spear in turn has added lines rendering it into a human figure, probably male. To its left another faint human figure has ear pendants, a female trait in this petroglyphic tradition.