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Given the stark contrast between the living (right) half and the bare skull (left) half of this mask, it has been suggested that it represents the characteristically Mesoamerican concept of duality, as represented by the opposing concepts of life and death, day and night, etc.


Mask with one half representing a face and the other a skull
Central Mexican Pre-Classic
Early Pre-Classic (1000-600 B.C.)
Tlatilco, State of Mexico
Clay
8.5 x 7.3 cm.
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico.

Photo © Jorge Pérez de Lara