The materialization of an iconography: a LBA/EIA metallic representation of an “anchoriform” or “anchor idol” (?) from the Fraga dos Corvos habitat site (Eastern Trás-os-Montes, Portugal)

Abstract

A metallic artefact recorded in a LBA/EIA context in Northern Portugal, which can be one of the first known material representations of the so-called Southwestern Bronze Age “anchoriform” or “anchor idol”, is presented. The artefact comes from an intrusive LBA/EIA context into a MBA level at the hilltop settlement of Fraga dos Corvos (Macedo de Cavaleiros, Bragança, Northern Portugal). It is made of a ternary bronze alloy (Cu-Sn-Pb), consequently integrating the impressive Fraga dos Corvos collection of bronze artefacts currently known, whose affiliation, whether typological or in terms of chemical composition, should be mostly sought in Southwestern Iberian Peninsula. The significance of the presence of such artefact in this archaeological site is discussed, taking into account that it is chronologically and geographically far away from its cultural source.