Long-nosed god maskette
Encyclopedia
Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts
made from bone, copper
and marine shells (Busycon
) associated with the Mississippian culture
(800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological site
s in the American Midwest and Southeast. They are small shield-shaped faces with squared-off foreheads, circular eyes, and large noses of various lengths. They are often shown on Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
representations of falcon impersonators as ear ornaments. Long and short nosed versions of the masks have been found in ten different states, with the majority found at sites in Illinois. Many archaeologists now associate them with the Ho-Chunk
(Winnebago) stories of the mythological being Red Horn
.
in 1870. Since then over twenty of these artifacts have been discovered in an area encompassing at least ten states. They have also been found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin, but the majority have been found in Illinois Excavations at the Gahagan Mounds Site
in Louisiana in 1939 produced a matched pair of copper maskettes. The largest examples yet found were a pair of copper masks dug from a mound in Calhoun County, Illinois
by William G. Fecht. One is 22.4 centimetres (8.8 in) and the other 22 centimetres (8.7 in) in length.
and John Mann Goggin
proposed the existence of an early Mississippian Long nosed god horizon based on the distribution and chronological positioning of the finds. In 1989 Jon Muller of Southern Illinois University
proposed reorganizing the classification of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex into five horizons, with each as a discrete tradition defined by the origin of specific motifs and ritual objects. The first horizon he defines for his Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere is the Developmental Cult Period which went from 900 to 1150 CE and is marked by the appearance of the Long nosed god maskettes.
of the Smithsonian Institution
, at first believed that the Long-nosed god masks were evidence of contact with Mesoamerica
. They identified the masks as possible representations of the Aztec
deity Yacatecuhtli
, an aspect of Quetzalcoatl
whose name means “The Lord Who Guides”. Yacatecuhtli was worshipped by the pochteca
, a class of professional long-distance traveling merchants. In the 1990s anthropologist Robert L. Hall
proposed that the maskettes were used by Mississippian peoples as part of ritual adoption
s in which important leaders extended fictive kinship
to visiting leaders in order to cement political alliances and trade relationships. Hall, an expert on Native American belief systems, theorised that the maskettes were used to identify individuals involved in the adoption rituals with the figures of Red Horn
(who was also known as "He-Who-Wears-Human-Heads-As-Earrings") and his sons. Many of the myths of Red Horn and his sons, found amongst the Chiwere Siouan-speaking people
including the Ho-Chunk
and Ioway, involve instances of kinship and adoption. In his guise as "He who Gets Hit with Deer Lungs", Red Horn is also associated with the Calumet ceremony
, which is another fictive kinship/adoption ritual. The differing shapes of the noses found on earpieces, including long, bent and short varieties, are explained by the myths as differing stages of the ritualized adoption process. In one Caddoan myth, the "wild brother
" of the Hero Twins possesses a long nose which is magically shortened by a medicine man. This has led some researchers to think the masks start as the long nosed variety, denoting the first stage in the initiation process. As the individual progresses through the rituals, the nose is symbolically bent and eventually trimmed in the final phase, denoting full acceptance into the kinship system.
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
made from bone, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and marine shells (Busycon
Lightning whelk
The lightning whelk, scientific name Busycon contrarium, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell...
) associated with the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
(800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
s in the American Midwest and Southeast. They are small shield-shaped faces with squared-off foreheads, circular eyes, and large noses of various lengths. They are often shown on Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
representations of falcon impersonators as ear ornaments. Long and short nosed versions of the masks have been found in ten different states, with the majority found at sites in Illinois. Many archaeologists now associate them with the Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
(Winnebago) stories of the mythological being Red Horn
Red Horn (Siouan deity)
Red Horn is a culture hero in Siouan oral traditions, specifically of the Ioway and Hocąk nations. Only in Hocąk literature is he known as "Red Horn" , but among the Ioway and Hocągara both, he is known by one of his variant names, "He Who Wears Faces on His Ears"...
.
Archaeology
The first long nosed god maskette was found next to a skull in a grave in Big Mound in St. LouisSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
in 1870. Since then over twenty of these artifacts have been discovered in an area encompassing at least ten states. They have also been found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin, but the majority have been found in Illinois Excavations at the Gahagan Mounds Site
Gahagan Mounds Site
The Gahagan Mounds Site is an Early Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site in Red River Parish, Louisiana. It is located in the Red River Valley...
in Louisiana in 1939 produced a matched pair of copper maskettes. The largest examples yet found were a pair of copper masks dug from a mound in Calhoun County, Illinois
Calhoun County, Illinois
Calhoun County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 5,089, which is an increase of 0.1% from 5,084 in 2000. Its county seat is Hardin. It is part of the Metro-East portion of the St...
by William G. Fecht. One is 22.4 centimetres (8.8 in) and the other 22 centimetres (8.7 in) in length.
Long nosed god horizon
Archaeologists have long used the maskettes for dating different phases of the Mississippian culture. In the 1950s Stephen WilliamsStephen Williams (archeologist)
Stephen Williams is an archaeologist at Harvard University, currently holding the title of Peabody Professor of North American Archaeology and Ethnography, Emeritus....
and John Mann Goggin
John Mann Goggin
John Mann Goggin was a cultural anthropologist in the southwest, southeast, Mexico, and Caribbean, primarily focusing on the ethnology, cultural history, and typology of artifacts from archaeological sites....
proposed the existence of an early Mississippian Long nosed god horizon based on the distribution and chronological positioning of the finds. In 1989 Jon Muller of Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
proposed reorganizing the classification of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex into five horizons, with each as a discrete tradition defined by the origin of specific motifs and ritual objects. The first horizon he defines for his Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere is the Developmental Cult Period which went from 900 to 1150 CE and is marked by the appearance of the Long nosed god maskettes.
Theories about uses
Some archaeologists, including James B. GriffinJames Bennett Griffin
James Bennett Griffin was an American archaeologist. He is regarded as one of the most influential archaeologists in North America in the 20th century.-Personal life:...
of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, at first believed that the Long-nosed god masks were evidence of contact with Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. They identified the masks as possible representations of the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
deity Yacatecuhtli
Yacatecuhtli
In Aztec mythology, Yacatecuhtli or Yiacatecuhtli was the patron god of commerce and travelers, especially merchant travelers. His symbol is a bundle of staves....
, an aspect of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
whose name means “The Lord Who Guides”. Yacatecuhtli was worshipped by the pochteca
Pochteca
Pochteca were professional, long-distance traveling merchants in the Aztec Empire. They were a small, but important class as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders. The trade or commerce was referred to as pochtecayotl...
, a class of professional long-distance traveling merchants. In the 1990s anthropologist Robert L. Hall
Robert L. Hall
Robert L. Hall is an American anthropologist specializing in the ethnohistory, ethnology, and archaeology of the Great Plains and Midwestern United States, the beliefs, rituals, and symbolisms of North American and Mesoamerican indigenous peoples, Mesoamerican calendar systems, and the history of...
proposed that the maskettes were used by Mississippian peoples as part of ritual adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
s in which important leaders extended fictive kinship
Fictive kinship
Fictive kinship is a term used by anthropologists and ethnographers to distinguish between forms of kinship or social ties that are based on neither consanguinal nor affinal ties...
to visiting leaders in order to cement political alliances and trade relationships. Hall, an expert on Native American belief systems, theorised that the maskettes were used to identify individuals involved in the adoption rituals with the figures of Red Horn
Red Horn (Siouan deity)
Red Horn is a culture hero in Siouan oral traditions, specifically of the Ioway and Hocąk nations. Only in Hocąk literature is he known as "Red Horn" , but among the Ioway and Hocągara both, he is known by one of his variant names, "He Who Wears Faces on His Ears"...
(who was also known as "He-Who-Wears-Human-Heads-As-Earrings") and his sons. Many of the myths of Red Horn and his sons, found amongst the Chiwere Siouan-speaking people
Chiwere language
Chiwere is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the midwest and plains. The language is closely related to Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago...
including the Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
and Ioway, involve instances of kinship and adoption. In his guise as "He who Gets Hit with Deer Lungs", Red Horn is also associated with the Calumet ceremony
Calumet (pipe)
A Calumet is a ceremonial smoking pipe used by some Native American Nations. Traditionally it has been smoked to seal a covenant or treaty, or to offer prayers in a religious ceremony.- Etymology :...
, which is another fictive kinship/adoption ritual. The differing shapes of the noses found on earpieces, including long, bent and short varieties, are explained by the myths as differing stages of the ritualized adoption process. In one Caddoan myth, the "wild brother
Feral child
A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language...
" of the Hero Twins possesses a long nose which is magically shortened by a medicine man. This has led some researchers to think the masks start as the long nosed variety, denoting the first stage in the initiation process. As the individual progresses through the rituals, the nose is symbolically bent and eventually trimmed in the final phase, denoting full acceptance into the kinship system.
See also
- Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
- Mississippian stone statuaryMississippian stone statuaryThe Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...
- Mississippian culture potteryMississippian culture potteryMississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine shell-tempering agents in the clay paste. Shell tempering is one of...