In the middle of the Copper Age, around 5,000 years ago, humans living in the extreme southwest of the Iberian Peninsula spent more than a century making owl-shaped plaques engraved on slate. Around 4,000 have been found that present two circles as eyes and an outlined body that represents plumage.
For decades archaeologists thought they were deceased gods or people and were used as ritual items. But a recent study led by Juan José Negro, an expert from the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) at the Doñana Biological Station, has revealed that these figures probably had nothing to do with divine power. They would have been created by children to be used as toys.
The plates, which measure around a span, have different designs, although the ones that stand out the most are those that show two large frontal eyes and bodies similar to those of owls. "They are modeled after two of the species present in the area: the little owl (Athene noctua) and the long-eared owl (Asio otus)," the researchers write in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports.
These two birds, living in semi-open habitat, were possibly the most abundant owls around Copper Age human settlements and crop fields. "People must have been aware of their presence and possibly interacted with them," they point out.
"Owls -says Juan José Negro- were the only animal used as a model to make these plates and this is probably due to the fact that they are the most anthropomorphic, with a compact silhouette, huge heads and eyes located in a frontal position, like those of humans, staring at the observer, as opposed to the side view used for any other animal.
The scientific team has analyzed one hundred figures and has classified them, on a scale of one to six, according to how many features of the owls were reflected: the two eyes, the feathered tufts on the head, a pattern of feathers, a flat facial disc, a beak and wings.
Later, they compared these figures with 100 current drawings of boys and girls between the ages of four and thirteen and observed many similarities. The drawings seemed more realistic as the children got older and more skilled with pencils. “Somehow, children perceive that the essence of an owl is that big head with two big eyes that look at you. They've been painted like this since they can hold a pencil. In prehistory, they were probably represented this way since they learned to engrave a stone using another stone”, explains Guillermo Blanco, co-author of the work.
Slate is one of the most common rocks in southwestern Iberia and provides a blank canvas for etching lines using pointed tools made of flint, quartz or copper. The way in which these stones are exfoliated also facilitates the production of plates that look like owls.
“Silhouetteing animals other than owls in a recognizable way would require additional carving skills and specific tools. The manufacture and design of these figures were simple and did not require great skill or intensive labor. They could even be used as part of the learning process to handle stone objects”, says Víctor Díaz, a researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid.
The engravings, made between 5,500 and 4,750 years ago, were often perforated twice at the top. Archaeologists interpret these holes as impractical for threading through, and would instead be used to hold real bird feathers, right where the tufts emerge on live owls.
The fact that numerous plaques have been found in funerary contexts indicates that they could also be used as a tribute to the deceased. Young people could have paid homage to their elders by leaving the objects they had been involved in making or which they held dear.
“The border between play and ritual is blurred in these societies and there is no contradiction in having fun with toys and, at some point, using them as offerings during community rituals related, for example, to the colossal megalithic tombs so characteristic of the Copper Age” the researchers conclude.
