Blurred boundaries: Zoomorphic masking rituals and the human-animal relationship in ancient Cyprus

ABSTRACT

Worked bucrania and figural representations of masked men dating from the 12^th-5^th centuries BCE provide striking evidence for ritual performances using animal masks in ancient Cyprus. This study flips the traditional approach to this rich body of material. Rather than focusing on the cult or the socio-political contexts of these performances, I instead explore the production of zoomorphic masks and the impact of masking on the wearer. Drawing on new approaches pioneered in social zooarchaeology and using New Materialities perspectives, this analysis delves deeper into the human-animal relationship in Cyprus and how that was expressed in masking ceremonies. Moving beyond simplistic associations of bull masks with a vaguely defined bull god, this study argues for a more complex and integrated relationship between humans and the natural world that was expressed in Cypriot religion through divine animal attributes, animal sacrifice and feasting, and zoomorphic masking rituals.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyprus
• masks
• Iron Age
• new materialism
• social zooarchaeology
• Mediterranean ritual

Acknowledgments

Research for this article was made possible through a Creighton University George F. Haddix Research Incubator Award and a Scheerer Grant as well as ongoing support from Michael K. Toumazou and the Athienou Archaeological Project. I would also like to thank the Director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, for permission to study and photograph various artifacts appearing in this article. This contribution was greatly improved by insightful comments from my anonymous peer reviewers and from David Reese, Adrienne Frie, Kathryn Grossman, Derek Counts, and Matthew Spigelman. I would especially like to thank David Reese for generously providing access to his unpublished data and Joanna Smith for permission to use her photographs for Figure 3 and 4. All errors remain my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Creighton University [George F. Haddix Research Incubator Award and a Scheerer Grant].

Notes on contributors

Erin Walcek Averett

Erin Walcek Averett is Associate Professor of Archaeology at Creighton University. She holds degrees in Classics from the University of Georgia (BA) and in Art History and Archaeology from the University of Missouri (MA, PhD), and her research interests include the archaeology of Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean in the Iron Age. Her recent work has focused on Greek and Cypriot sanctuaries and religion, terracotta figurines, and 3D imaging and digital archaeology. She is Assistant Director of the Athienou Archaeological Project on Cyprus, and her most recent publications include her co-edited Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology (2016, The Digital Press of the University of North Dakota), co-authored Visualizing Votive Practice: Exploring Limestone and Terracotta Sculpture Athienou-Malloura through 3D Models (2020, The Digital Press of the University of North Dakota), as well as articles on masks and the Athienou-Malloura sanctuary in the American Journal of Archaeology, Antiquity, and the Journal of Field Archaeology.