The Magacela stele is a stele found in southwestern

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, made of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

and dated from the

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. It is exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. By the 20th century, the slate stele had been repurposed as part of an orchard wall in Magacela, in the Spanish

province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the s ...

. The owner of the property, Juan Delgado Torres, took the stele to the municipal hall and the artifact became known to the wider public in 1950. It was later donated to the personal collection of in

San Pedro de Mérida San Pedro de Mérida is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a giv ...

. It later became part of the collection of the National Archaeological Museum. The carved surface of the stele features a schematic human figure depicting a male warrior or chieftain (wearing a helmet with oversized horns), an

edged weapon An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a melee weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include swords, daggers, knives, and bayonets. Edged weapons are used to cut, hack, or slash; some edged weapons (such as many kinds of swords) may also permit ...

, a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

and an object tentatively identified as a handheld

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

. The objects are pointing down, underpinning the funerary nature of the artifact. Below the rest of elements there is a carved round

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * Archaeology of Extremadura Steles Archaeological discoveries in Spain Bronze Age Spain Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid {{Europe-archaeology-stub