Stele Funerarie Antropomorfe

There are a total of about thirty finds, only partially preserved in Bovino (others are in the Civic Museum of Foggia and in the MARTA of Taranto), and represent the most extraordinary finds of the archaeological collection of the Dauni Mountains (Copper Age). These stele-statues, variously dated by scholars, are attributable perhaps to the eneolithic (III millennium BC) and are made mostly of limestone or sandstone, not large (average height cm 60), with the height prevailing on the width; even the thickness is small, usually less than ten centimetres.

The stems can be divided into "feminine", characterized by a representative return of femininity: at the top a neckline contains breasts, dominated by a necklace, at the bottom a navel and a belt; and in "masculine"Instead, they are characterized by a surprising symbolic return of virility: a dagger, from whose point a gush of blood, inserted in the sheath and tied to a bandolier belt.

The stelae were usually worked (incised) only on one side and the lower part is left rough, often tapered to facilitate the inflection into the ground (tombstone, mushroom or disc markers).