Masks and masquerade in the Early Neolithic: a view from Upper Mesopotamia

Abstract

This paper reviews evidence for masks in the Upper Mesopotamian Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Possible stone miniatures (and one supra life-sized example) of masks from sites like Jerf el Ahmar, Göbekli Tepe and Nevalı Çori are discussed. It is argued that during the early Neolithic in the Near East, masks and masking possessed a significant role in rituals reenacting mythological narratives closely related to death, taking place at sites with special purpose buildings and a noticeably rich iconography. This importance justified the time-consuming and complicated manufacture of these paraphernalia as well as miniature and larger-than-life-sized representations of these items.