IBERIAN COPPER AGE SLATE OWL PLAQUES

 

Copper Age owl plaques. Illustration from Negro et al., 2022. A through f - slate, g - sandstone, h - bone.

From the Chalcolithic/Copper Age of Iberia come a series of absolutely charming figurines of owls, crafted primarily on sheets of slate, but also on other materials such as bone or other stones. Described as palm-sized, these figurines are thus only a few inches high and have been completed with varying degrees of detail and precision.

Copper Age owl plaque. Illustration from Negro et al., 2022. 

Wild little owl (Athene noctua), Valencina de la Concepción, Spain, in 2021,  Photograph Juan J. Negro.

"In the Copper Age, slate engraved plaques were produced massively in the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Researcjers jave speculated about the function of these palm-sized stone objects for more than a century, although most have favored the idea that they represent goddesses, and served ritual purposes. The plaques are engraved with different designs of varying complexity. In some of them. the ones sporting two large frontal eyes, we clearly see owls medeled after two species present in the area: the little owl (Athene noctua), and the long-eared owl (Asoi otus)." (Negro et al. 2022)

Copper Age owl plaque. Illustration from Negro et al., 2022. 

Long-eared owl (Asio otus) with erected ear tufts, Valencina de la Concepción, Spain, in 2021,  Photograph Juan J. Negro.

"The engraved slate plaques of southwestern Iberia were crafted in a relatively narrow time window about 5500 to 4750 BP, and rank among the most emblematic and unique objects of the Chalcolithic/Copper Age cultural period. These palm-sized plaques were engraved with geometric patterns and often had a 'head' with two round circles generally described as eyes, and a 'body' below. Most of them had one or two perforations at the top of the head purpostedly used to pass a string. In addition to the flat slate plaques, similar objects carved in sandstone or in mammal bones such as horse phalanges, have been found, also exhibiting a pair of eyes on one of the extremes. About 4000 plaques have been located so far, many on communal graves such as tholos, but also in pits. Today they are dispersed in a multitude of archaeological museums and ethnographic collections, mainly in Spain and Portugal." (Negro et al. 2022) The fact that they were found in the megalithic graves would seem to reinforce the idea that they had some sort of spiritual significance - I believe this is what the authors mean when they say "ritual significance."

Sandstone owl plaque. Illustration from Negro et al., 2022.

"Since the discovery of the first engraved slate plaques, they were ascribed a profound symbolic and ritual purpose. Despite its simplicity, their atristry was also praised and readily compared to other crafts produced in other parts of the Old World, from the Iberian Peninsula to Mesopotamia. Gimbutas visually described the plaques as 'owl goddesses on a trapezoidal plaque of schist', also carved on bones of in pottery. After Gimbutas, only the goddess interpretation remained, and the owl model was forgotten." (Netro et al. 2022) To describe them as profoundly symbolic is a reach. A symbol is something that by association or convention represents something else. Anything pictorial is symbolic, any sign or representation is symbolic. This should come under the category of "it goes without saying."

"This approach assumes that the owl like objects may be the archaeological trace of playful and learning activities carried out by youngsters, who were possibly the largest demographic group and therefore a fundamental part of Chalcolithic society. Ignoring this fact may have led to identifying certain finds as symbolic or ritual when, quite simply, they are the trace of playful behaviors or learning activities. So far, the earlier set of toys may be the one found at the Siberian Upper Paleolithic site of Mal'ta, which included human, bird and other animal figurines. Also in Siberia a human figurine and several animals, have been found at baby graves, dated 4500 years BP in the Bronze Age. Whether or not the Chalcolithic slate plaques can be considered toys will remain speculative, but it is a fact that in ethnographic examples worldwide, many artisan practices, including pottery are learned in childhood." (Negro et al. 2022) While it is true that these artisan practices are learned beginning in childhood, children do not attain the highest level of achievement. This is reached as one is reaching adulthood and has the greatly increased level of experience that comes with not only considerable repitition, but learning self-evaluation and self-criticism. Some of these owl images are masterfully created, it is hard to imagine a child accomplishing that. Additionally, it must be kept in mind that the majority of toys for children are made by the adults in their lives. 

Modern children's owl drawings from Google search used by authors for their comparison.

"To gain support to our hypothesis that the slate plaques and some related objects were children dolls or toys of little ritual value that may have been crafted for young people and not necessarily by experienced artisans of the community, we establish a comparison with owls as seen by contemporary children, taking therefore a n actualistic approach. We assume that the differences in the craftsmanship of the plaques may well result from differences in the technical skill of the engravers associated by age and experience, as we see today in owl drawings depicted by children of different ages. With this in mind, we extracted owl images using Google. We specifically searched for images drawn by children 4 to 13 years-old. We selected 100 drawings in which the age of the children was specified, and generated a score for each image based on the presence/absence of the same six owl traits (i.e., two eyes, feathery ventral area, rostral marks, facial disk, bill and wings) that we described above to evaluate the owliness of the slate plaques. Every recognizable trait adds one point, allowing us to obtain a complexity score for each drawing. We related the score with the age of the children through a Spearman correlation." (Negro et al. 2022)

It seems to me that comparing the output of modern children with works that the authors assume to have been done by children from 5500 to 4750 BP is somewhat of a stretch given differences in culture and technology. Modern children have been absorbing cartoonish representations of owls from the media all of their lives. This reasoning strikes me as comparing apples and ducks.

"Our actualistic approach, in which we resorted to a comparison with owl drawings by contemporary children of different ages clearly reveals two facts: (a) owls are always drawn with the head situated frontally, with the owl's eyes staring at the observer (as if there were no othr ways to depictd an owl), and (b) there is a prograssion related to age in the owliness of the depictions, with more and more owl characters added by older children." (Negro et al. 2022)

This analysis may be overlooking one very important fact in the analysis of works of art. In assuming that the completeness and exactness of detail correlates to the age of the creator the authors are failing to account for the importance of the amount of previous experience involved in the accuracy of any artistic portrayal. Novody starts out as a master craftsman, everybody gets there through repetition and experience. The varying levels of competency would also be visible if one were observing the first and tenth example created by a craftsman of any age.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on this report you should read the original report listed below.

PRIMARY REFERENCE:

Negro, J. J., Blanco, G., Rodriguez-Rodriguez, E., et al., 2022, Owl-like plaques of the Copper Age and the involvement of children, Sci. Rep. 12, 19277, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23530-0. Accessed 2 December 2022.

SECONDARY REFERENCE:

Gimbutas, M., 1974, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, University of California Press.

BIRDS IN ROCK ART, PUEO – THE HAWAIIAN OWL:

Puako owl, Hawaii, Ellen Belef, Sept. 2012.

At the Puako petroglyph site on the island of Hawaii, this figure on the right is called the Puako Owl. If this identification is correct that means that it is a representation of the Pueo (Asio flammeus sandwichensis), a subspecies of the Short-eared owl that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. The Pueo also represents an ancestor spirit (na’aumakua) in Hawaiian culture.

Figure on right is called the Puako owl, Joe Belef, 2012.

Inhabiting forests and grasslands throughout the islands, their numbers are now in decline, especially on the island of Oahu, and they are now listed as an endangered species.The Pueo was first named Strix sandwichensis in 1825, by Andrew Bloxam, a naturalist aboard the british ship HMS Bonde. It is now classified as a subspecies of the Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus. The Pueo nests on the ground which leaves their eggs and young vulnerable to predators such as the mongoose and cats, as well as by bulldozers (Wikipedia).

Hawaiian Pueo owl, Asio flammeus sandwichensis, Wikipedia. 

In mythology, as an amakua, the owl is specifically skilled in battle.

“The most famous legend, "The Battle of the Owls" underscores the aumakua's force. It relates the story of an Oahu man who robbed an owl's nest: After he slung the coveted bounty in his knapsack, the owl-parent shrieked with grief and complaint. The man felt sorry and quickly returned the eggs unharmed to the nest. Not only that, he took the owl as his god and built a temple in its honor. Naturally, the ruling chief thought this an act of rebellion against the prevalent gods, and ordered the man's execution. The weapon was poised, the man feared his last breath, and the owls gathered, darkening the skies with their wings. Any further action of the king's soldiers became impossible. The man walked free. Pueo-hulu-nui near Moanalua on Oahu is one of the alleged places where the awesome battle took place.”

“Much further back in time, it is said that Hina, the mother of the god Maui, gave birth to a second child, in the form of the pueo. Later, when the brave Maui was taken as prisoner by enemies and held for sacrifice, brother owl rescued him and led him to safety.”

“Another old story of rescue tells of a warrior who fought under King Kamehameha the First. Cornered by the enemy, he was about to plunge over a dangerous cliff. Right at that moment an owl flew up in his face, so that he was able to thrust out his spear into the earth, saving himself from the suicidal leap.” (http://www.coffeetimes.com/mar98.htm)

The image does also bear a marked resemblance to a figure wearing a traditional Hawaiian gourd headdress/mask or helmet. However, although one cannot completely discount identifications of rock art images made by the descendants of the original creators, but we can question the original meaning, or assign multiple references to such an image. So, until we know better, based upon its identification by Hawaiian peoples, this figure represents Pueo, the Hawaiian short-eared owl, and I like him that way.

REFERENCES:

http://www.coffeetimes.com/mar98.htm

Wikipedia

THE PICKETWIRE OWL:

The petroglyph illustrated at the center of the picture is to be found in the Picketwire Canyon, the canyon of the Purgatoire River in southeastern Colorado near La Junta. It is appears to be an image of a decorated shield in what has been designated as the Rio Grande Style. I think of these decorated shield images as sort of a portrait of someone. Native American shield decoration was not like the heraldry displayed on medieval shields in Europe. A group of warriors who followed a military leader in medieval Europe might carry identical shields to show their allegiance and common identity. The imagery on a Native American shield tended to be unique to that individual and was likely to illustrate the vision in which he received his spiritual and military power. Given this, I think of a rock art image of an illustrated shield as a sort of portrait of the owner, a portrayal of an object that is unique to one individual. This portrayal would also be recognizable to other people who knew the owner, and would represent him as a form of portrait.

Purgatoire canyon, southeast Colorado.
Photo: Peter Faris.

Among Native American cultures the owl was a spiritually powerful being, and was often believed to have martial attributes. The owl was often believed to bring messages concerning enemy activities to someone with a sacred connection to them, someone who had perhaps received “owl power” during a vision quest. I feel safe then in assuming that the Picketwire Owl Shield represented a particular individual, someone whose vision had gifted him with military ability and spiritual power. I think of this individual as a warrior named Owl Shield.

It is also very interesting that above the owl shield petroglyph, another round image seems to contain a cruder imitation, or at least a variation of the image. Does this represent the same warrior, or someone else, perhaps Owl Shield Jr.? Finally, the Picketwire owl shield was adopted by the Colorado Rock Art Association about four years ago as its logo. This represents quite a legacy and memorial to our unknown warrior Owl Shield, and also his legacy to us.