Magacela stele

The Magacela stele is a stele found in southwestern Iberia, made of slate and dated from the Late Bronze Age. It is exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain.

Magacela stele
Spanish: Estela de Magacela
Year	c. 1100–800 BC
Medium	Slate
Dimensions	(142 x 35 x 32) cm[1]
Location	National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, 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.[2] 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.[3] It was later donated to the personal collection of Eduardo Ezquer Gabaldón in San Pedro de Mérida.[3] 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, a spear and an object tentatively identified as a handheld mirror.[2] The objects are pointing down, underpinning the funerary nature of the artifact.[2] Below the rest of elements there is a carved round shield.[4]