This type of reddish burial mask was made about 700 AD. It would be from the Wari people. Masks from a mummy of this preColumbian culture in Peru are sometimes found in tombs around Lima’s Huaca Pucllana. The weather is very dry there and these old wooden masks hold up well. Their red color can be much brighter. The eyes are dark, flat stones on white shells. Like ancient Egypt, burial masks were used in upper-class funerals before the Spanish took over in South America and Mexico. Death masks are used by Christians as well.
