CYLINDRICAL LARGE-EYED IDOL
Copper Age
CYLINDRICAL LARGE-EYED IDOL
Well-polished marble limestone. Decorated with incised lines.
Height: 28 cm. Maximum diameter: 10,5 cm.
Late prehistory. Around 2500 B.C.
Origin
Cerro de las Vacas. Trebujena. Cádiz.
Description
This is a magnificent piece, largely considered one of the best of its kind due to its size and state of conservation. It is a caliza marmórea (marble limestone) cylinder, slightly wider and somewhat oval at the base, with well-polished surfaces. This variety of cylinder is richly decorated. As is usually the case with this type of idol, there is decorative engraving on the top half. It displays two large round eyes with long radial eyelids –sun eyes- each framed by an eyebrow and four lines of facial tattoos. A long zig-zagging mane of hair, outlined by a dovetail-shaped stroke, falls from the forehead down the back to the middle. The hair is not marked in the top. Cylindrical idols (of which there are many different types) are generally thought to be characteristic of settled communities in the south west of the peninsula throughout the 3rd millennium B.C.
Bibliography
- Esteve Guerrero, M. (1961): “Ídolo cilíndrico de mármol, hallado en Lebrija (Sevilla)”. Archivo Español de Arqueología, Vol. XXIV. Madrid, pp. 161-163.
- Almagro Gorbea, Mª J. (1973): Ídolos del Bronce I Hispano. Biblioteca Praehistorica Hispana XII. Madrid, pp.135-136, lam. XVI, 1.
