Bronze Mask Of A Human Animal Composite Creature, List#3

Suzanne Cahill

This mask is probably one of the strangest pieces from the whole excavation, with his big ears and his prominent pupils; his eyes just sort of sticking straight out at you. This is a figure that people have tried to understand. Are we talking about a figure of authority? Are we talking about a protective beast? What could this thing be?

Narrator

When these pits were discovered, some scholars suggested this mask might refer to the legend of a king who was said to have had double eyes – even though that legend was recorded hundreds of years later.

Suzanne Cahill

What double eyeballs means, nobody has any idea. It seems more likely to me that the eyeballs sticking out is just meant to be something really imposing and impressive, and maybe even a little bit scary. Perhaps suggesting divine powers that this being might have.

Narrator

Most of the masks are too heavy for a human to wear, but there are few clues as to how they might have been displayed. If you look closely, you can see several square holes in the mask that were clearly cut after it was created. Were they added so that decorations could be attached? Perhaps these were how the mask was affixed to a pole or a wall?

Notice the crack running down the middle of the face. Most of the bronzes are broken like this.

Suzanne Cahill

This is something that seems to have been done deliberately by the people who buried them. And this suggests that it was some kind of a huge, extravagant ritual, because it couldn't have been hiding your treasures when you were fleeing from an enemy, since once they're broken, you can't really retrieve them; they won't be of any use.