The Mask of Warka (named after the modern village of Warka located close to the ancient city of

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

), also known as the Lady of Uruk, dating from 3100 BC, is one of the earliest known representations of the human face. The carved marble female face is probably a depiction of

Inanna Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...

. It is approximately 20 cm (8 inches) tall, and was probably incorporated into a larger wooden

cult image In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rome ...

, though it is only a presumption that a deity is represented. It is without parallels in the period.Frankfort, 31–32 It is in the

National Museum of Iraq The Iraq Museum ( ar, المتحف العراقي) is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq, a recent phenomenon influenced by other nations' naming of their national museum ...

, having been recovered undamaged after being looted when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. It could depict a temple goddess. Shells may have served as the whites of the eyes, and a lapis lazuli, a blue semi-precious gemstone, may have formed the pupils.

Description

The Mask of Warka is unique in that it is the first accurate depiction of the human face. Previous attempts, like the

Tell Brak Head The Tell Brak Head is an important prehistoric Middle Eastern sculpture found at the ancient site of Tell Brak in Syria. It has been part of the British Museum's collection since 1939. Dated by archaeologists to before 3300 BC, it is considered to ...

, were not anatomically accurate, and featured exaggerated noses and ears. At tall, the mask was most likely originally part of a whole, life sized statue, probably made of wood, with the exposed areas of "skin" (arms, hands, feet, and most obviously the head) being the only ones made of the much rarer

white marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphosed ...

. The back of the head would have been covered with

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

and then colored metal — most likely either

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. This combination would have then extended over the forehead in waves. This hairpiece would have been attached to the Mask with metal studs, which could possibly have been engraved. The hollowed out eyes and eyebrows bear traces of an ancient

inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...

, perhaps

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

and

lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, ...

. Perforations at the ears indicate that the image once wore jewelry. Parts of the eyebrows and hair were also emphasized with colored inlays. The back of the head is flat, with drill holes for attachment.

Discovery

The Mask of Warka was discovered on 22 February 1939 by the expedition of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

, led by Dr A. Nöldeke, in the city of

south of modern

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. The Mask was found in the Eanna (or Ianna) district of the city — so named for the goddess

to whom the temples are dedicated.

Theft and recovery

When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, the National Museum of Iraq (where the Mask of Warka was stored) was looted. The Mask is thought to have been taken between April 10 and 12 of that year, along with forty other pieces, including the

Warka Vase The Warka Vase or Uruk vase is a slim carved alabaster vessel found in the temple complex of the Sumerian goddess Inanna in the ruins of the ancient city of Uruk, located in the modern Al Muthanna Governorate, in southern Iraq. Like the Uruk Tro ...

and

Bassetki Statue The Bassetki Statue is a monument from the Akkadian period (2350–2100 BCE)Dates according to the so-called Middle Chronology. in Mesopotamia. It was discovered in the 1974 during road construction near the site of the village Bassetki (located n ...

. The effort to recover these artifacts was spearheaded by

Marine Reserve A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

Colonel

Matthew Bogdanos Colonel Matthew Bogdanos is an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan (since 1988), author, boxer, and a retired colonel in the United States Marine Corps. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bogdanos deployed to Afghanistan where he wa ...

, who started an investigation with his team on April 21. However, it was the

812th Military Police Company 81 may refer to: * 81 (number) * one of the years 81 BC, AD 81, 1981, 2081 * Nickname for the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-David ...

(Combat Support) USAR, out of

Orangeburg, New York Orangeburg is a hamlet and census-designated place, in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Tappan, south of Blauvelt, east of Pearl River and west of Piermont. The population was 4,568 at the 2 ...

, that recovered the Mask just before October. According to Bogdanos, "An informant, an individual, an Iraqi, walked into the museum with a tip that he knew where antiquities were being held or hidden, without identifying the mask. Acting on that information, members of the investigation who were still in Baghdad went to that location, conducted a reconnaissance, and then conducted a raid. The results of the raid were ultimately good, but Bogdanos explains that hopes were not initially high. “Initially they didn't find the Mask, but they found the owner of the farm-- it's a farm in northern Baghdad-- and after interviewing the farmer, he admitted that he did in fact have an antiquity, in this case the Mask, buried in the back of his farm. The investigators went behind the farm and uncovered the Mask exactly where he had placed it, and it is intact and undamaged." Brown, Jeffery. "Recovering History." PBS Newshour (2003) Print.

Gallery

File:UrukHead.jpg, Mask of Warka File:The Mask of Warka, in profile, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.jpg, The Mask of Warka, in profile, the Iraq Museum in Baghdad File:The Mask of Warka at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, back view.jpg, The Mask of Warka at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, back view File:The Mask of Warka at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, in profile.jpg, The Mask of Warka at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, in profile File:Warka Mask in Iraq National Museum.jpg, Warka Mask in Iraq National Museum

Notes

References