Art Deco Ceramic Mask Austria 1930
Cultural masks are known to have been worn long before human beings developed written language. Many types of masquerade used by preliterate societies have disappeared from history, frequently along with the societies themselves. In many cases, only archaeological fragments, drawings, or photographs remain to tell us what the masks looked like and give a sense of how the societies used them. It is known that the ancient peoples of the Americas used masquerade in war, religion, and entertainment, although the only surviving artifacts are death masks. For example, the Popol Vuh, the origin story of the Mayan (K’iché) civilization, tells how the god-hero twins Hunahpuh and Ixbalanque entertained the lords of the underworld (Xibalba) with dances, including various dances named after animal such as the weasel (kux) and the armadillo (iboy). Mayan vases show such dancers as wearing masks representing the titular animals.
The earliest surviving masks are made of stone or seashell, and were found in the region now known as Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. These date back some 9000 years. Wood masks were probably used for living masquerade much earlier, but due to weathering few have survived. The oldest such mask is the what appears to be a crest mask representing an aardvark, discovered in Angola and dating back to around 900 C.E.
The disappearance of many ancient masking traditions was assured by the European campaigns of conquest and exploitation in many parts of the New World during the Age of Discovery. Tribal peoples were ruthlessly culled by disease, lethal slavery, and sometimes genocidal campaigns.
The Selk’nam, for example, inhabited Patagonia and the Tierra del Fuego region. European settlers invaded their territory in the 19th century and began extensive sheep ranching on Selk’nam hunting grounds. With much of their traditional game gone, the Selk’nam, who lacked any concept of private property, turned to hunting the sheep, which seemed like substitute game to them. Ranchers retaliated by hiring mercenaries to exterminate local tribes. Despite the efforts of missionaries, the Selk’nam quickly disappeared under the onslaught. By 1974, not a single full-blooded Selk’nam was left on the Earth. Their unique culture died with them.
