Neolithic Stone Masks of Judea, the World's Oldest Masks

The Israel Museum is hosting a magnificent exhibit of the world's oldest well-document masks. Two of these objects were found at archaeological sites in Israel dating to the early Neolithic period, as early as 7000 BCE. The rest are from the private collection of Judy Steinhardt, who has loaned them to the museum for this exhibit. They were probably looted from sites in the same area. Above is one of the well-documented masks, from the Nahal Hemar cave in the Judean desert. Note the holes, which could have been used to attach the masks to people's heads, or to attach them to walls or poles. (Sometimes people wear masks, but sometimes they use them in other ways.)

The masks are made of stone, which explains their survival. Broken mask from the archaeological site of Horvat Duma in the Judean hills, also around 7000 BCE.

Masks from the Steinhardt collection. To be so well preserved these must have come from burials or burial caves. The second mask in this series was auctioned by Christie's back in May, 2012; I wrote about this at the time. Not sure how much Steinhardt paid for it, but the estimate was around $500,000.

These really are wonderful, and so incredibly old. No wonder people pay so much for them, and good for Ms. Steinhardt for loaning hers to this exhibition.