4,500-year-old ivory statuettes found in Portugal

About 20 ivory statuettes estimated to be around 4,500 years old have been discovered in an archaeological dig in eastern Portugal, a first in the country, archaeologist António Valério said this week. 

Detail of an ivory statuette recovered in eastern Portugal [Credit: ERA]

"This is the first time pieces with such characteristics have appeared in Portugal", Valério told Lusa News Agency, adding that similar finds had been made earlier in southern Spain. 

One of the ivory statuettes recovered in eastern Portugal [Credit: ERA]

He said the statuettes appeared to be funeral objects as they were discovered in an area of the Perdigões archaeological complex which had been used for cremations between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. 

He dated the pieces to the middle of the third millennium BC, making them some 4,500 years old. 

Source: The Portugal News Online [August 09, 2012]

TANN

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