Page 220 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

masks, some of which are pieced at the forehead,
may have originally included similar attachments.
Like the heads, these masks may have been
mounted on torsos to create large statues akin to
the standing figure or on stands that did not other-
wise incorporate human features; some Chinese
authors have even suggested that the masks may
have been constituents of totem poles. They may
also have been elements of architectural decoration
or large furniture used in a ritual precinct, perhaps
serving as part of a gateway, altar, or hall; thus
installed, these masks would have dominated
their immediate surroundings with their enigmatic
countenances.
The motif of the almond-shaped eyes with their
median ridges (which characterizes the majority of
the pits' masks and heads) has been interpreted as a
representation of closed eyes; the notion that eyes
are somehow compelling — intended to provoke
fear or awe (as "eyed-masks" around the world often
2
are ) — is weakened with respect to the masks from
the Sanxingdui pits by the possibility that most
of these masks and heads actually are "blind." All
the Sanxingdui masks and heads in any event lack
the physical attributes conventionally associated
with eliciting such emotions — fangs, teeth, or
tongues. RT

1 Excavated in 1986; published: Zhao 1994, no. 30; Rawson
1996, no. 25.
2 Wu 19973.

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