Mask - Gorget

In the final centuries before the Europeans’ arrival, a new cultural tradition evolved in the Mississippi Valley from the mound-builder cultures of the preceding Woodland period. Stimulated by renewed contacts with Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America), the Mississippians developed a civilization and culture with a highly sophisticated ceremonial structure and belief system based on the concept of ritual death and regeneration. This belief system, known as the “southeastern ceremonial complex” or “southern death cult,” was distinguished by an elaborate iconographic tradition recorded on engraved shell pendants and drinking cups and embossed copper plaques.

The Art Museum’s shell mask is one such manifestation of this tradition. Designed as a gorget (a pendant to be worn on the chest), it depicts a stylized human face with staring, pierced-hole eyes and a nose and mouth in relief. Such masks, which were contained in sacred war bundles, reflect the importance of warrior cults in Mississippian society.