Spiro, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States, North America
Accession Date:
30 Dec 1966
Notes:
Style: Mask Element: Complete Alteration: Mechanical Manufacturing Notes: Made from cut away apex. Open mouth formed by taking out the very tip of the apex. 2 eyes are drilled in and surround by an incised circle. A long raised nose extends down between the eyes. The surface is very well polished. Mouth has 5 incised lines extending down from lower edge. Design: Uses natural shell shape Surface Modification: Incised, polished Symbols: Human face (mask) Use Trace: Part of proper left side is missing. Proper right side intact showing that side of face is modeled w/2 indents on ea. side (chin and jowl?). Comments: Zig-zag of 3 || lines extend out and down from ea. eye. Odd random lines also seem to emanate from lower eye. Below mouth on left is a recently incised scribble (this is the mechanical damage referred to above).
Illus. Fig. 20, p. 160 in Townsend, Richard F., Robert V. Sharp, and Garrick Alan Bailey. 2004. Hero, hawk, and open hand: American Indian art of the ancient Midwest and South. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago. Identified there as engraved shell mask, 13th/14th century.
