Masking Phenomena in Late Bronze Age Syria. A New Mask from Ebla

Abstract

Studying disguised activities in antiquity implies asking what could have been a mask in a specific society and how it could have been used. As the number of currently known masks from pre-theat¬rical societies is still very low, new examples are especially important, particularly those from sites or regions where they were previously unattested. This paper presents an unpublished finely-made mask from Tell Mardikh/Ebla (Syria). The detailed analysis of its find-context supports its dating to the Late Bronze Age and its provenance from a house. Both these factors make it possible to connect this mask to coeval examples from the Middle Euphrates River Valley, but it differs from them in the practice of inlaying the eye cavities. The use of red slip hints at a comparison with similar metal finds, while the profile of the mask and its size suggest that it could not have been originally worn. Instead, it is argued that this mask could have covered the face of a life-size statue or could have been applied to a mannequin or a pole that was made of wood or other perishable material. Its discovery in a house makes it plausible to suggest that – following what has already been proposed for the examples from the Middle Euphrates region – it might have been used in domestic cults devoted to the ancestors or the clan/family deities. As the house from which the mask comes was built on the area previously occupied by the Sacred Area of Ishtar, a connection between the goddess and this terracotta could be an intriguing working hypothesis.