Plaque idol

The objects known as “plaque idols” are thin rectangular or trapezoidal pieces made of slate, schist or sandstone. There are more than 4,000 such pieces in existence, similar yet all different in one way or another. They are more frequent in southwestern Iberia, although they have also been found in other parts of the peninsula, and date from between 3,500 and 2,500 BC.
This slate plaque was cut into a slightly anthropomorphic shape with a recognisable head. The front is covered with geometric decoration, featuring a face framed by what may be a beard or necklace with large radial eyes and facial tattoos that define the iconography of the peninsular peoples of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic.
It was found in the late 1950s along with 22 other similar idols, ornaments and elements of lithic industry, although the exact location of the find is uncertain as the site had suffered extensive damage. These types of objects are mostly found in funerary contexts, but they have also turned up in residential areas, and a plaque-idol workshop was recently identified.