364 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



masking complex can be dated before the period of White contact. 

 Converse and Keppler (Keppler, 1941, p. 19) take the same view and 

 point out that the failure of early writers to mention masks is no 

 guarantee that they did not exist at that time, as it is probable that 

 the first Europeans were never permitted to see a mask or to witness 

 the more secret ceremonies in which they were used. 



The new archeological evidence bearing on the problem of Iroquois 

 provenience has done much to resolve previous differences of opinion. 

 The probability that Iroquois culture originated and developed in 

 New York State, and the discovery of representations of masked 

 faces on clay pipe bowls in prehistoric Iroquois sites near Onondaga, 

 offers support to those who insist that masking was an indigenous 

 and ancient trait. ^ Fenton's latest discussion (1956, p. 351) takes 

 these facts into account, and he is now in substantial agreement with 

 Speck, viewing the early Iroquois as a center for the development 

 of portable masks and as possible agents of diffusion to other areas. 



Complete certainty on the question of origin and antiquity may 

 never be achieved. The climatic conditions of northern New York 

 prohibit the survival of direct evidence in the form of wooden masks, 

 and the reports of early European observers are equivocal in that 

 they are incomplete and open to different interpretations. Careful 

 historical reconstruction through research into the mask complex 

 as it exists today among the Iroquois and neighboring tribes is still 

 needed. If, for example, it could be demonstrated that the masks 

 and rituals of the northern Iroquois have more traits in common 

 with Iroquoian-speaking peoples to the south, the Cherokee, than they 

 have with those of the Algonquian peoples adjacent to them, it would 

 provide confirmation for the hypothesis that the Iroquois possessed 

 masks in the prehistoric period. 



Regardless of what can or cannot be proved in the future, the fact 

 remains that masks have become deeply embedded in mythology and 

 ritual and can be fully documented as a significant part of Iroquois 

 culture for almost 300 years. Furthermore, the "idols" mentioned 

 in the earliest accounts of travelers indicate that although the masks 

 themselves may not have been acquired until late in the 17th century, 

 the notion of representing supernatural beings in wood was neither 

 incompatible nor foreign to the Iroquois of the prehistoric era.^ 



» Wray (1956, pp. 7-8) points out the resemblance between the stone and shell maskettes present in all 

 early Seneca sites and modern mask types. 



In his journal of 1634-35, Arent van Curler reported that "the (Mohawk) chief showed me his idol; it 

 was a head with teeth sticking out; it was dressed in red cloth. Others have a snake, a turtle, a swan, a 

 crane, a pigeon or the like for their idol, to tell the fortune; they think they will always have good luck In 

 doing so." [Wilson, 1896, p. 88.] 



