The mysterious face pots of the megalithic tombs

In the megalithic tombs of the Stone Age certain distinctive pottery vessels have often been found. These are the so-called ‘face pots’. Two eyes with eyebrows stare out from the vessel sides. Some people think that the enigmatic motif shows that in the Stone Age the great Mother Goddess was worshipped. Others believe that the faces are simply a decorative element.

The eye motif also appears in other parts of Europe in connection with megalithic tombs. In Denmark the face pots are decorated in the so-called Bundsø style, which appeared around 3000 BC. The deposition as offerings of various pots occurred frequently outside the megalithic tombs of the Neolithic period. This may have been part of the funeral ritual. The custom of pottery offerings reached its peak in about 3300-3200 BC, around the time when people began to build passage graves.