They were making art.

They were making meaning.

The child buried at the site grew up in this world — in a community where the production of carved ivory figurines was a recognized activity, where the specific tradition of the female figure in mammoth ivory was part of the material heritage of the group.

The bird carving found in his burial is part of the same artistic tradition: the transformation of natural material into a form that carries meaning.

We cannot know what the child understood about the figurines.