BRONZE MASK
This bronze mask comes from Mesopotamia. Some scholars think it may represent Sargon of Akkad, which would mean that it dates from the twenty-second century BCE.
Points to Ponder:
-- What aspects of technology do you see in the mask?
-- Certainly you can say something about the workmanship of this artifact, about its design and construction. But can you also say something about the uses to which it may have been put?
-- Is there anything about the way the mask looks that might reveal something about its purpose?
-- What about the face that it depicts? Would you think that this is the face of someone who was important?
-- What can the mask's expression show? Is there wisdom here? Or power? What evidence makes you think so?
Source: Iraqi Museum, Baghdad, in J. F. Watts, Seven Cultural Traditions (Simon & Schuster, 1994):134.