A Strange Face Mask Gorget
The Engraved Shell Mask Gorget or as it is also known, the Death Mask Gorget, was made and used by the Indians of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex during the period of AD 1400-1700. These ceremonial/religious artifacts were made from the outer whorl of the Atlantic or Gulf Coast conch or whelk shell and are, today, classified into three types – the McBee, the Chicamauga and the Buffalo styles. All three have the same basic physical form or outline, that being an oval or pear shaped gorget with two drilled suspension holes which are often called “eyes” because of their placement on the face. The McBee motif has this shape and the eyes but no other decoration. The Chicamauga style also has the two drilled holes which may or may not be surrounded by engraved circles. It usually has a raised nose and some have a mouth representation that may or may not be carved or drilled. The Buffalo variety has all the design elements of the other two and also has an engraved hairline and various facial engravings that could have been made to represent face painting or tattooing. These all are quite rare artifacts but have been found throughout the Southeast in sizes that range from about two inches to over ten inches long. The facial engravings on the Buffalo style gorgets include engravings around the eyes (suspension holes) that are problematical and a number of interpretations about their nature have been put forth. These include the belief that these engravings show the head and/or body of a crane, the eye markings of a falcon and the most common explanation – the Southern Cult motif known as the “weeping eye” or ‘forked eye’ which is theorized to be a symbol of warfare.
When Hernando de Soto led his army through the Southeast from AD 1539 to 1542, the natives undoubtedly encountered the expedition of horse riding and armor wearing Spaniards and it most certainly would have caused great excitement and fear among the Indian population. If the Amerinds had a written language, they probably would have left accounts of the Spanish explorers. Or maybe they did but not in words as we know them.
The engraved face mask gorget pictured with this article is Buffalo style that is slightly oval being 2 ½ inches tall by 2 ¼ inches wide and was found on a site adjacent to the St. Francis River near the town of Marked Tree in Mississippi County, Arkansas. That area is in the region through which the de Sota armada probably traveled. It has all the usual motifs of the type, those being eyes, nose, hairline and forked eye surrounds. It also has an unusual second set of suspension holes near the bottom of the face. At that point it could be typical of the style but it has some extra very strange engravings. Across the lower third of the face are some lines that appear to be a strange looking human oriented horizontally across the gorget. This incising was most probably done after the original lines were excised because they cut through the original carving and because of the crudeness of the work. It is now theorized that this later artwork was a stylized attempt to show a Spaniard. This figure has a squarish head reminiscent of an iron battle helmet and a rectangular body that may represent metal armor. There are two small crosses near the legs of the figure that may representatives of the Christian cross. Since the images will be difficult to see in the gorget photograph, a drawing, that shows all the engravings, has been made and is shown with this article.
So the questions are whether this odd figure is an Indian’s drawing of a Spanish invader, or just a crude engraving of a fellow native or maybe just doodling from a shell engraving trainee. The writer has owned and seen many authentic shell gorgets but has never seen another one engraved in this manner. Whatever the correct answer is, this artifact will always be a Strange Face Mask Gorget.
REFERENCES:
Brain, Jeffery P. & Phillip Phillips
SHELL GORGETS – STYLES OF THE LATE PREHISTORIC AND
PROTOHISTORIC SOUTHEAST
1996
Galloway, Patricia - Editor
THE SOUTHEASTERN CEREMONIAL COMPLEX:
ARTIFACTS AND ANALYSIS
1989
Kneberg, Madeline
“Engraved Shell Gorgets and Their Associations”,
TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGIST, Vol. 15, pgs. 1-40
1959
Maus, James E.
“Engraved Spaniard Effigy Gorget?”,
CENTRAL STATES ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Vol. 51, No. 3
2004
Muller, Jon D.
“Archaeological Analysis of Art Styles”,
TENNESSEE ARCHAEOLOGIST, Vol. 22, pgs. 25-29
1966