Os motivos zoomórficos representados nas placas de tear de Vila Nova de São Pedro (Azambuja, Portugal)

From the excavations carried out between 1936 and 1967 in the Chalcolithic settlement of Vila Nova de São Pedro (Azambuja, Portugal), there were recovered more than 500 ceramic elements usually known as “loom weights” with different shapes, dimensions and, in the majority, with decorated surfaces. The iconographic repertoire is quite diverse, with the geometric motifs in higher representation, followed by soliforms, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs. For the zoomorphic motifs there were identified eleven decorated surfaces, whose typology is split into two categories: quadruped – whose species are not identifiable; deer representations. These iconographic motifs are part of the symbolic and conceptual universe of Iberian communities from the 3rd Millennium BC, also appearing in several artifactual categories such as ceramics, figurines, plates, engravings and rock art paintings. Understanding the mechanisms that create and increase this thematic uniformity, as well as the meaning of the deer for these agro pastoral groups, will allow a closer approach to the cultural and social behavior of these communities