"^""No^T^r^^' IROQUOIS MASKS AT ONONDAGA — HENDRY 371 



have been living on reservations on which two or more of the five 

 tribes are represented." This proximity has tended to break down 

 the minor differences between them and there is no reason to sup- 

 pose that art forms escaped the process of intertribal accultm-ation. 

 Even before the reservation period, the League brought the Iroquois 

 into close association, socially and religiously as well as politically, 

 and provided ample opportunity for the observation and exchange of 

 ceremonial properties such as masks. The assumption of definite and 

 distinct tribal styles in the precontact period is, therefore, a doubtful 

 one. Certainly today the stylistic differences that are characteristic 

 of the various reservations must be taken as the outgrowth of fairly 

 recent local developments rather than the persistence of ancient tribal 

 traditions. 



There is very little material on which to base an accurate account 

 of the stylistic development of Iroquois masks. Because of the perish- 

 able nature of wood, a hundred years is probably the maximum age 

 of any mask now in existence, and many of this vintage were destroyed 

 bv the Christians and the early converts of Handsome Lake who were 

 taught to regard them as idols and "devil faces." Of those that have 

 survived, either on the reservations or in museums and private collec- 

 tions, few have been accurately dated. The carvings themselves 

 offer no clues to age, for many modern masks are given an antique 

 finish to make them look old. Historical records as a source of 

 material by which to chart fluctuations in style are of limited value, 

 since early descriptions of masks are too few and too general to permit 

 a detailed reconstruction. 



Keppler (1941, p. 18) has ventured the opinion that at first all 

 masks were carved in the likeness of the original False Face, depicting 

 his twisted mouth and broken nose. Divergence from this basic type 

 occurred as certain formal characteristics which proved ritually effica- 

 cious were emphasized and others that seemed useless were eliminated. 

 Further variations may have evolved when the carvers sought to re- 

 produce the mysterious maladies which distort the human body, or 

 when they attempted to frighten the spirits of disease by heightening 

 the fearsome appearance of the masks. 



Keppler's theory of development has some basis in the origin 

 legend and the present widespread distribution of crooked-mouth 

 masks, although there is little evidence to support his assertion that 

 the variety of masks observed today all evolved from a single basic 

 type. Certainly, style was affected by the function and meaning 

 of the carvings. Fenton (1956, p. 352) considers the false faces to be 

 "grotesque portrayals of specific disease somatotypes," and he points 



" Cattaraugus Reservation, while predominantly Seneca, also has the Cayuga and Onondaga; Tona- 

 wanda: Seneca and Cayuga; Allegany: Seneca and Onondaga; etc. 



