Faience Mask

1400 BC - 1200 BC
Faience
Original Site Unknown
5.5 cm x 6.0 cm x 2.8 cm
A7568

Oriental Institute Museum

Artifact Description

Faience Mask

Masks such as this one are found in tombs, where they were placed on the chest of the deceased, perhaps as a symbolic protective device. This particular mask is made of faience, which is a man-made material consisting of powdered quartz that has been fused by heating. Both eyes on this mask were originally inlaid with bitumen, a tar-like substance found throughout the Middle East.

Suggested Readings

Frankfort, H. and H.A., John A. Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen. Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1946.

Moss, Carol. Science in Ancient Mesopotamia. New York: Franklin Watts, 1989.

Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File, 1990.

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