Perforated bone plates with parallel marks on the rim. Four plates made by cutting and polishing a horse's hyoid bone (the bone that supports the larynx). They are perforated to be used as pendants or to sew onto clothes. They were discovered together forming a group or series; each one had thirty marks at either side. They may represent a recurrent event or something that has been observed, or the verification of something important such as the moon or menstrual cycle, like a notebook. In any case, they would be more symbolic and purposeful than decorative and casual. (Note that they may well have been bullroarers, and the holes would have allowed the attachment of a long cord, which was than used to whirl a plate around the head, making a roaring noise - Don ) Date: 20 000 - 16 000 BP. Photo: © Pedro Saura, Altamira