Mark mask of Phoenician woman found in Carthage

A mask of a woman wearing a Phoenician hairstyle that is unique on the archaeological record has been discovered at the Tophet cemetery and sanctuary in the suburbs of Carthage in Tunisia. The sculpture dates to the late 4th century B.C. and is believed to have been a votive offering.

The Tophet of Carthage was open-air sacred precinct that was in use as a cemetery and temple from the 8th to the 2nd century B.C. It is replete with burials, particularly of children and animals, structures and ritual materials connected to the worship of Tanit, goddess of fertility and the moon, and her consort Baal Hammon, god of the sun and seasonal renewal.

The small head was unearthed in an excavation of the temple of Baal Hammon and Tanit at the Tophet. It was carved from a block of fine white marble and depicts a woman with a calm visage, delicate lips and a coiffure seen depicted in the temples of eastern Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon). 

Previous votive offerings found at Tophet were figurines made of clay or simple stones with inscribed dedications. This is the first marble votive of such refinement and sophistication found at the site, and it suggests that it was dedicated to the deities of the sanctuary by an aristocratic person or family petitioning the gods or expressing gratitude with the highest quality offering.

There are traces of surviving polychromy on the surface of the marble. Analysis of the marble and the paint will pinpoint their origins. If the mask was locally made, the stylized design was directly inspired by Levantine iconography, meaning Punic sculptors integrated ancient Phoenician motifs into local religious imagery. Alternatively, the object itself was imported from the eastern Mediterranean.

After analysis and conservation are finished, the head will go on display at the Carthage Museum.

* This article was originally published here