Long-nosed god maskette

Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts made from bone, copper and marine shells (Lightning whelk) associated with the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological sites in the Midwestern United States and the Southeastern United States. 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.^[1] Long and short nosed versions of the masks have been found in ten different states, with the majority found at sites in Illinois.^[2] Many archaeologists now associate them with the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) stories of the mythological being Red Horn.^[3]

Archaeology

The first long nosed god maskette was found next to a skull in a grave in Big Mound in St. Louis in 1870. Since then over twenty of these artifacts have been discovered in an area encompassing at least ten states.^[4] They have also been found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin, but the majority have been found in Illinois.^[2] Excavations at the Gahagan Mounds Site in Louisiana in 1939 produced a matched pair of copper maskettes.^[5] 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.^[2] Clarence Bloomfield Moore found two copper examples when he excavated the St. Johns culture Grant Mound in Duval County, Florida in 1894 along with two biconical copper covered ear-spools similar to ones from Cahokia.^[6]

Long nosed god horizon

Archaeologists have long used the maskettes for dating different phases of the Mississippian culture. In the 1950s Stephen Williams 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.^[7] 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.^[8]

Theories about uses

The long-nosed god maskettes may have functioned in the Early Mississippian Period of the eastern United States within an adoption ritual much like that of the Calumet ceremony of the historic period.----to create fictions of kinship between the powerful leader of a large polity and his political clients in outlying areas.
— - Timothy R. Pauketat 2004^[9]

Some archaeologists, including James B. Griffin 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,^[10] 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 adoptions in which important leaders extended fictive kinship to visiting leaders in order to cement political alliances and trade relationships.^[5] 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.^[11]^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[4]

References

^ "Native American:Prehistoric:Mississippian". Illinois State Museum. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bostrom, Peter A. (2005-09-30). "Long & Short Nosed God Masks". Retrieved 2010-07-30.
^ Dye, David H. (2009-02-16). War Paths, Peace Paths: An Archaeology of Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America. AltaMira Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-7591-0745-8.
^ ^a ^b Duncan, James R.; Diaz-Granados, Carol (2000). "Of Masks and Myths". Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. 25 (1): 1–26. JSTOR 20708122.
^ ^a ^b "Tejas". Retrieved 2010-07-30.
^ Ashley, Keith H. (2002). "On the periphery of the Early Mississippian world : Looking within and beyond Northeastern Florida" (PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 2 (2).
^ "CORRECTED PROVENANCE FOR THE LONG-NOSED GOD MASK FROM "A CAVE NEAR ROGANA, TENNESSEE"". Southeastern Archaeology. 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
^ Muller, Jon (1989). "The Southern Cult". In Galloway, Patricia (ed.). The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, Artifacts and Analysis:The Cottonlandia Conference. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 11–26.
^ Pauketat, Timothy (2004). Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. Cambridge University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-521-52066-9.
^ Fuller, Michael (2008). "Indian Hill Mound in St. Louis County, Missouri". Retrieved 2010-08-01.
^ "Aztalan – Wisconsin's Middle Mississippian Outpost". Milwaukee Public Museum. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
^ Hall, Robert L. (1997). An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian Belief and Ritual. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06602-3.
^ Dieterle, Richard L. "Redhorn (Wears Faces on His Ears)". Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology. Retrieved 2010-08-19.

External links

[1] "Native American:Prehistoric:Mississippian". Illinois State Museum. Retrieved 2010-07-30.

[LONG&SHORT-2] Bostrom, Peter A. (2005-09-30). "Long & Short Nosed God Masks". Retrieved 2010-07-30.

[3] Dye, David H. (2009-02-16). War Paths, Peace Paths: An Archaeology of Cooperation and Conflict in Native Eastern North America. AltaMira Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-7591-0745-8.

[DUNCAN2000-4] Duncan, James R.; Diaz-Granados, Carol (2000). "Of Masks and Myths". Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. 25 (1): 1–26. JSTOR 20708122.

[TEJAS-5] "Tejas". Retrieved 2010-07-30.

[ASHLEY2-6] Ashley, Keith H. (2002). "On the periphery of the Early Mississippian world : Looking within and beyond Northeastern Florida" (PDF). Southeastern Archaeology. 2 (2).

[7] "CORRECTED PROVENANCE FOR THE LONG-NOSED GOD MASK FROM "A CAVE NEAR ROGANA, TENNESSEE"". Southeastern Archaeology. 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-30.

[8] Muller, Jon (1989). "The Southern Cult". In Galloway, Patricia (ed.). The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, Artifacts and Analysis:The Cottonlandia Conference. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 11–26.

[9] Pauketat, Timothy (2004). Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. Cambridge University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-521-52066-9.

[FULLER2008-10] Fuller, Michael (2008). "Indian Hill Mound in St. Louis County, Missouri". Retrieved 2010-08-01.

[AZTALAN-11] "Aztalan – Wisconsin's Middle Mississippian Outpost". Milwaukee Public Museum. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-07-30.

[HALL1997-12] Hall, Robert L. (1997). An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian Belief and Ritual. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06602-3.

[DIETERLE-13] Dieterle, Richard L. "Redhorn (Wears Faces on His Ears)". Encyclopedia of Hočąk (Winnebago) Mythology. Retrieved 2010-08-19.

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v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era

Archaeology

Long nosed god horizon

Theories about uses

See also

References

External links