The hand-drawn metal birds were potentially represented deities of the dead.
“The resemblance of this type of plaques with the owl species present in the region is more than evident,” study co-author Víctor M. Díaz, an art historian from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, says in an e-mail to. “This, together with the possibility that they were used by the youngest as dolls or toys, led us to think that perhaps they were objects made by children in a learning context to later use them in their games.
The team examined 100 of the plaques and rated them on a scale of one to six based on how many of six owl traits they displayed. The traits included two eyes, patterned feathers, feathery tufts, a flat facial disk, wings, and a beak. They then compared 100 modern images of owls drawn by children age four to 13 with the plaques.
“The similarity of these plaques with the drawings made by children of our day is very remarkable,” says Díaz. “One of the things that they reveal to us about the children of that time is that their vision of what an owl is is very similar, if not identical, to what children of today have. They would also be proof of how certain useful skills for daily life can be acquired in a learning context that is not necessarily productive.
The drawings also more closely resembled owls as children aged and their motor skills likely improved. There were also two small holes at the top of many of the plaques, but the team does not believe that these were used to hang the owl-plaque like a modern parent might put a child’s drawing up on the refrigerator. Instead, it’s possible that feathers could be placed there to better resemble the feathery tufts on the heads of some regional owl species, such as the
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