Verraco

Zoomorphic sculpture of a verraco or male pig carved from a single block. It has zigzag markings on the belly and right front leg, and all four legs, joined in pairs, rest on a base.
These synthetic images of verracos made from large monolithic blocks were created by pre-Roman herding peoples of the western plateau, who placed them at prominent spots in the countryside, and reused in Roman times to mark burial sites.
They have had various interpretations since the 19th century: territorial or ethnic boundary markers, protectors of the land or livestock, divine or secular, votive or religious funerary offerings, or possibly associated with structures of worship.
They are practically the only sculptures produced by the inhabitants of inland Iberia during the Iron Age; this gave rise to the term “verraco culture”, a concept that applies to a larger territory than that of the Vettonian peoples, from the modern-day province of Zamora to that of Cáceres.
Some scholars, like J. Álvarez-Sanchís, underscore their connection to a predominantly herding culture and their location near the entrance to the great Vettonian hillforts and in strategic, highly visible places in the countryside, indicating their socio-political value.
This piece was donated to the National Archaeological Museum by the Duke of Abrantes in 1868.