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Mouth Mask with Feline Creature and Human Figures
Not on view
These ornaments, part of a group of funerary offerings for a male who died at about sixty years old, were found in a tomb under the principal platform at Kuntur Wasi. Both the crown and the mouth masks—a type of ornament worn suspended from the septum of the nose—feature feline creatures with prominent fangs; on one example the animal grasps human figures (seen in profile) in its claws. As there was no writing tradition in the ancient Andes, the precise meaning of this imagery remains unknown.
Estos ornamentos que formaban parte de las ofrendas funerarias de un hombre de unos sesenta años de edad, fueron encontrados en una tumba en la plataforma principal de Kuntur Wasi. Tanto la corona como la máscara de la boca (un tipo de ornamento que se llevaba colgado del septo nasal) representan seres felinos con colmillos prominentes. En uno de ellos (visto aquí de perfil), el felino sujeta, en sus garras, figuras humanas. Al no existir la tradición escrita en las antiguas civilizaciones andinas, aún se desconoce cuál es el significado exacto de estas imágenes.
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