HIGASHIOSAKA, JAPAN—An 1,800-year-old cedar mask has been unearthed ahead of railway construction east of Osaka, reports The Asahi Shimbun. Measuring 12 inches tall, the mask was found in flood sediments some nine feet deep along with two other wooden objects, a water bucket and a hoe-shaped implement. Scholars believe all the artifacts were used in agricultural festivals dating to the period of the Yamato Kingship, an alliance of noble families ruled by a leader known as Okimi that held sway over much of Japan from the third to seventh centuries A.D. “I believe the mask represented a ‘spirit of a head,’ which was believed to be a god in the shape of a human and representing the authority of Okimi," said archaeologist Kaoru Terasawa of the Research Center for Makimukugaku. "I imagine that powerful people who were influenced by the ceremonies of the Yamato Kingship used the mask at festivals." To read about early Japanese mask-like objects, go to "Ancient Tattoos: Dogu Figurine."
