The Cañaveral de León stela (Huelva, Spain). A monumental sculpture in a landscape of settlements and pathways

Abstract

A newly discovered prehistoric stela from Cañaveral de León (Huelva, Spain) is studied through a combination of scientic methods, including thin section petrography and lithological contextualisation, various state-of-the-art digital imaging techniques for the analysis of the engraved motifs (3D modelling and Reectance TransformationImaging), and detection of pigments on its surface (Principal Components Analysis, HSI-contrast stretch, ferricpigments index and algebraic operations between bands), as well as archaeological surveys aimed at establishingthe landscape context the stela was part of. The results reveal this stela is analogous to a larger series of lateprehistoric sculptures portraying personages with ‘headdresses, largely concentrated in the Iberian south-westand often connected to Bronze Age settlements and burial sites. In addition, the Cañaveral de Leon stela isclosely associated to an old pathway that has had a historical prominence in terms of long-distance mobility,connecting various regions of western Spain in a South-North direction.