Quimbaya Planes: Representations of Animals, Toys or Models of Planes?

The Quimbaya planes, also known as pre-Columbian planes, are figurines made out of gold or bronze from around 1000 A.D. They were found in Colombia and can now be seen in Museo del Oro (Spanish for Gold Museum) in Bogotá http://www.banrepcultural.org/gold-museum.
In the museum, they are exposed as zoomorphic figures, which means they are considered to be animal shaped objects. Quimbaya planes are supposed to be modelled after birds, insects or fish for religious reasons. Because of the inability to equate the figurines with one specific animal, the scientific theory is that the Quimbaya combined features from different animals into each figurine: the head of a crocodile with other fish features together with wings, for example. However, there are further theories about why there is no clear relation between each Quimbaya plane and an animal.

Non-Scientific Theories about the Quimbaya Planes

History tells us that man could not fly until the 1780s, when the first hot air balloon lifted into the air in France. It was not until 1903 when the Wright brothers successfully flew the first powered plane ever. However, some researchers believe that there is enough evidence to suggest that humans have been able to fly since earlier times; so early, in fact, that the technology has been lost with the years.
The supporters of this theory believe that the Quimbaya Planes are representations of aeroplanes that existed 1000 years ago. They state that while other figurines from the same people can be easily recognized as specific animals, these Quimbaya Planes are something else. The wings, for example, are said to look nothing like those of any bird. The tail has the exact shape of fins on modern airplanes, unlike the tail of any fish, which do not have a single uprights and perpendicular flange.
In 1997, Peter Belting and Conrad Lubbers created simplified models out of Quimbaya planes and proved they could actually fly. To achieve this, Belting and Lubbers had to modify the wings slightly from the ones of the model. Scientists say that this accomplishment does not really prove much, given that almost any object which does not weigh much and has appropriate wing-like structures can keep itself in the air.

However, while many features can be equated to those of modern planes, the theory is certainly not supported by the fact that there is no trace of fuel having been used, hangars having been built or airplane runways having existed in past times, all of which were needed if the Quimbaya planes were to fly. Rather, some scientists argue the figurines might even be toys for children, given they have small handles at the bottom to hold them like toys.