Iberian Peninsula to the indus

Bibliography
: Siret 1908 [1995]; Bueno ramírez 1992, 
fig. 19, pl. 1; pascual Benito 1998, p. 193; lillios 2002; 
Gonçalves 2004, p. 61; maicas ramos 2007, pp. 241–
246; hurtado pérez 2008; Bueno ramírez 2010, p. 41; 
hurtado pérez 2010, pp. 149–151; maicas ramos 2010, 
pp. 126–127; Vera, linares, Armenteros, González 
2010; hurtado pérez 2013, pp. 323, 325; maret, Sidera 
2015; Bueno ramírez, Balbín Behrmann, Barroso Ber-
mejo, carrera ramírez, hunt ortiz 2016, pp. 387–391; 
Soler díaz 2017, pp. 338, fig. 7.4, 352–353.
line of interpretation, these images would serve to preserve the memory of mythic 
characters – whose authority would be reinforced by the use of the sun symbol – and 
to testify to the existence of an “ancestor cult”. 
it has also been proposed that these pieces should be understood as territorial 
symbols. According to this theory, the evolution of the iberian peninsula idols 
reflects 
the development of the social organization: during the neolithic, they represented a 
structure centred around small family groups, evolving during the Chalcolithic into a 
reference to larger groups and the resulting emergence of territorial clans. At the end 
of the third millennium BC, the idols marked the transition to a social system that had 
transformed into one in which the individual held power.
At this point, it is necessary to determine whether all the objects that we have com-
bined under the name “idols” actually form a unified set and, if so, if there is a unified 
or multiple interpretations. since it is rather improbable that all the idols correspond 
to a single pattern, we should not look for exclusive features. in this sense, Victor 
Hurtado Pérez stresses that baetyls, phalange, and slab idols seem to have the tightest 
connection with the funerary world, while the anthropomorphic types and the types 
with eyes, which often appeared in pits, could have had a ritual function. All or some 
of the known types of idols may be identity symbols and, as such, refer to the group 
and territory to which they belong. in this sense, they may indicate a link with the 
ancestors. this reference to an individual who no longer exists but who justifies the 
claims of a group may acquire a mythic value that leads us into the sphere of beliefs.
We should not forget, however, that these objects also have an artistic value, nor 
should we deny the possibility of more secular interpretations based on current ethno-
graphic examples, documented throughout the world. the verified existence of similar 
objects with a recreational value in preindustrial societies offers another possible in-
terpretation, at least for some of these idols. such an interpretation does not exclude 
that these artefacts may be, for example, simultaneously dolls and propitiatory female 
fertility amulets. indeed recreational use may also involve a symbolic and ritual signif-
icance in a society where all these aspects are not necessarily disassociated.
As regards future studies of these objects, there are many interesting facets which we 
cannot discuss here but which give an idea of how much remains to discover through 
those eyes that watch us so intently. We are thinking, for example, of the existence of 
“cancelled idols”, the apparent use of a scale of proportions in the creation of some 
groups, such as the funnel idols of los millares or the cylinder-idols of orden-seminario, 
or finally, of the possible relationship between these figurative manifestations to the 
broader mediterranean context. there is no doubt that this exhibition will provide an 
excellent opportunity to delve deeper.
M.R. 
4
Stick shaped eye-idol 
Almizaraque, Cuevas del Almanzora, 
Almería, Spain
III millennium BC
Bone
Museo Arqueológico Nacional, 
Madrid, inv. 1984/172/21/91
5
Idolo placa Lapa do Bugio
Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnography of the District of 
Setúbal / AMRS
VERIFY CAPTION!!! DATE????