Among the richest of all the sites in symbolic material, this enigmatic complex is thought, on the balance of evidence, to have served a religious function.
Symbols of extraordinary variety have been recovered here, applied to artifacts of nearly every description — vessels, garments, panels, small personal effects — and their profusion has been taken to indicate the coexistence of several distinct cults, apparently practised side by side.
Whether these observances were held in harmony or in rivalry cannot be determined. Certain symbols appear to have been deliberately defaced, though whether by adherents of a competing devotion or by some later hand remains a matter of dispute.
Equally puzzling is the recovery of a number of large metal casings, hollow and evidently intended to carry passengers. These have been interpreted, tentatively, as ceremonial chariots — an interpretation which, if correct, would suggest that rites of some kind were celebrated on the grounds themselves, and that the faithful arrived in a manner befitting the occasion.
