[3] The bust, originally colored, represents a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and large wheel-like coils (known as rodetes) on each side of the face.

[citation needed] These three figures and the Bicha of Balazote are exhibited in the same Iberian art hall in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid.

The popular version of the story differs from the official report by Pere Ibarra (the local keeper of the records) which stated that Antonio Maciá found the bust.

Ibarra's version of the discovery story, was that farm workers clearing the southeast slope of La Alcudia for agricultural purposes, discovered the sculpture.

He provided instructions that she make the necessary arrangements for the collection to be offered for sale to the Real Academia de la Historia after her death, to be located finally at the National Archaeological Museum.

In 1941, it was returned through an exchange of works, which also included the Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones by Murillo, the twin sphinxes of El Salobral and several pieces of the Treasure of Guarrazar, and the Iberian sculptures of Osuna.

[15][16] Moffitt discussed the sculpture in the context of a "golden age" of forgery[17] in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, which followed a growing cultural interest in collecting art and artifacts.

[13][18] Experts in Spanish archaeology have rejected Moffitt's theory and accept the Lady of Elche as a genuine ancient Iberian work.

In 2011, María Pilar de Luxán,[21] the author of the 2005 study, analyzed microparticles within the back hole of the Lady of Elche, utilizing electron microscopy and X-ray dispersive spectrometry.

[23] "A story has been built around the Lady that has avoided the obvious uncertainties, if not true contradictions," Gutiérrez Llore said, "but that by dint of being transmitted to future generations has ended up becoming the dominant historical memory, considered truthful, traditional and unquestionable.

"[24] The Lady of Elche stands as a statue representing Phoenicia as one of the seafaring nations at the Alexander Hamilton Custom House facade.

[25] A large prominent sculpture "La Dama Ibérica"[26] based on the Lady of Elche and created by the Spanish sculptor Manolo Valdés in 2007 overlooks a major intersection in the downtown region of Valencia, Spain.