Extremadura, a history recorded in stone. Recent archaeological discoveries.

• Opening: Monday, February 17, 2025
• Opening to the public: Tuesday, February 18, 2025
• Closing: April 20, 2025
• Organized by: Ministry of Culture, National Archaeological Museum, IPCE, Regional Government of Extremadura
• Curators: Adela Montaña Rueda Marquez de la Plata and Hipólito Collado Giraldo.

As a continuation of the first exhibition Rostros del Turuñuelo. The reliefs of Casas del Turuñuelo, Guareña, Badajoz that opened the Archaeological News Room of the MAN, recent discoveries of Extremadura archaeology are presented on this occasion, with the aim of offering our visitors a more complete overview of the archaeological panorama of this territory.

In recent years, the archaeology of Extremadura has been producing findings of exceptional interest and importance, both for the knowledge of the material culture of this territory, and of the Iberian Peninsula in general.

With stone as the guiding thread - the same support as the reliefs of Turuñuelo - the present exhibition, Extremadura, a history engraved in stone. Recent archaeological findings, brings together five outstanding pieces that allow us to take a journey from the Chalcolithic period to the Visigoth culture.

The visit to the room begins with the diadem stela of Alcántara, (Cáceres), which dates back to the Copper Age, to continue with another example of this same type, but from the Late Bronze Age, the stela of Navalvillar de Pela (Badajoz). One of the two male beasts found in the Valdecañas reservoir, El Gordo (Badajoz), belongs to the Iron Age. The Roman presence is represented by the relief of a griffin's head from the Portico of the Forum of Augusta Emerita, (Mérida, Badajoz), a unique example in Hispania. Finally, this small selection concludes with an interesting Visigothic relief from Finca Benavides, Olivenza (Badajoz), with an iconography that combines plant and bird elements. A journey, in short, from Prehistory to the Visigothic period, through interesting examples carved in stone, found in the Extremaduran territory.