Petrographic and geochemical study of the stone warrior stelae from central Iberia: Linking the geological record and archaeological heritage

Abstract

Six warrior stelae from central Iberia (Toledo, Spain) were studied using different geological techniques to discriminate their potential source materials and evaluate the displacement suffered from the quarry sites to their final location. The similar petrographic and geochemical features of the stelae, when compared with other lithological equivalents cropping out in the surrounding area, suggest that most raw materials were quarried less than 10 km from the finds. These materials mainly belong to a set of metasedimentary rocks from the Schist–Graywacke Complex and other Ordovician brownish sandstones, mostly found in the vicinity of the stelae sites. In contrast, the Talavera de la Reina stele, previously used as a statue‐menhir, was engraved on a leucogranite, geochemically similar to some plutonic units in the Navamorcuende area, in the southernmost region of the Spanish Central System batholith. The fact that all stelae and the proposed geological sources were located close to ancient tracks suggests that the raw materials were quarried in connection with these natural routes. The stelae may, therefore, have been landmarks or reference points that signaled transit passages used for trade or grazing, in the framework of continuous territorial expansion during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.