Vessel

A small set of expertly crafted and decorated pottery pieces, known as symbolic pottery, has figurative elements that shed light on the iconography of Chalcolithic societies. In some cases we find fragments that have been cut out and reused, which gives us an idea of how greatly these vessels were valued by their users.
Images of deer and sun-eyes are among the rare figurative motifs used to decorate this pottery. While solar motifs are widespread, deer are quite uncommon, with only a few known examples in southeastern Iberian and the region of Madrid.
This vessel came from a funerary context, specifically Grave 40 in the necropolis of Los Millares. The archaeological site of Los Millares consists of a walled settlement, 13 forts that defended it on nearby hills, and a megalithic necropolis with as many as 80 large mass graves. Some of these tombs contain up to a hundred corpses, buried with rich grave goods like these vessels.