Pottery 3 Iberian Peninsula Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic, 4000-2600 BC.

Bottle (Almeria), cheese pot (Madrid), ploughshares (Ciudad Real).
Photos: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, 2026.

Certain Chalcolithic products stand out from the rest for their quality or rarity. This is the case of symbolic pottery, characterized by the depiction of eyes, suns or deer, and lithic vessels made of alabaster, marble limestone or plaster. The production of these objects points to an evolution towards increasingly specialized craftsmanship. These vessels must have been highly prized because when they damaged, they were reused for other purposes, as is the case of this small symbolic plate made out of another vessel. (2) Fragment of symbolic pottery cut from another piece (Almeria).

Pottery from Grave 3, Almeria.
The grave goods in this museum discovered at megalithic structures in the southeast Iberian Peninsula. These burials consisted of group of circular graves that formed simple chambers, sometimes connected by open passage ways. The chambers had a diameter of between 1 and 3,5 meters and could accommodate up to 50 individuals. The pottery objects from these graves are quite small and every piece has a distinctive decorative pattern.

Although decorated pottery is abundant, the motifs are usually geometric, which is why objects with figurative elements are so rare and significant. Radiating suns or eyes and deer are the most common motifs and are also found on idols and in cave paintings.