Mar 7, 2006

The Mask of Agamemnon

When Heinrich Schliemann uncovered the nearly perfect gold funerary mask at the site of Mycenae in 1876, he declared that he was gazing upon the face of Agamemnon himself. Or, that's how the story goes, anyway.

Located in the tholos tombs of the site along with 4 other funerary masks (in addition to countless other treasures), the Mask of Agamemnon has come to represent the penultimate representation of the Mycenaean artistic style, and has become the face of the Mycenaeans. However, there are many that believe that the mask is fake, planted there by Schliemann himself, in order to garner greater accolades from the archaeological community (greater than locating the legendary Troy itself? It seems outlandish to want more than that!).

The evidence is pretty convincing. It seems that Schliemann was known for planting fake artifacts at other sites at which he worked. In addition, the artistic rendering of the Agamemnon mask differs slightly from the other masks, all contemporary pieces.

It's kind of sad to think that archaeologists sometimes pad their excavations with dummy artifacts to heighten their personal gains. It cheapens the science, as well as leads to false conclusions about the civlizations that legitimate archaeologists are trying to decipher.

For more information on this topic, visit the Archaeology magazine website, who has devoted an entire series of articles defending both sides of the debate.

http://www.archaeology.org/9907/etc/mask.html

http://www.archaeology.org/9907/etc/calder.html

http://www.archaeology.org/9907/etc/traill.html

http://www.archaeology.org/9907/etc/lapatin.html