Harriet Edmonds
owl Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Earliest Horizon, Valdivian, ca. 2300 to 2000 BCE. The owl was widely symbolic in the Pre-Columbian world. Owls were considered Shamanic, guiding humans on their journeys to other worlds, the divine, and death. In some cultures an anthropomorphic owl represented a warrior or war god. As a nocturnal bird of prey, the owl was also associated with night hunters, darkness, and the Underworld.