ABSTRACT
A formal question frequently asqued in Iberian archaeology is that of the surface treatment of the late prehistoric and protohistoric stelae. These stone monuments, usually engraved following several models, could have been painted, as various apparent colours randomly detected suggest. A complete study on a wide series of stelae would clarify the question, but due to different factors (mainly of an economic nature, but also linked to the need of sampling in order to perform most analytical techniques), this kind of study has not yet been conducted. This contribution presents the methodology and results of the study of the external appearance of two engraved southern Spanish stelae: Mirasiviene (Sevilla), which is a typical warrior stela from the Iberian south-west, and Montoro (Córdoba), a likely Iron Age pseudo-epigraphic stela.
