This is a Seneca mask representing a runner who died while delivering a message. Some Eskimo masks are so distorted that they look like abstractions by Picasso. Eskimos believe that all animals have souls; this mask shows a seal's soul emerging from its body. Finest piece of prehistoric (15th Century) sculpture ever found in the U. S., plowed up by a farmer near Lebanon, Tenn., three months ago

Digital Commonwealth — Boston Public Library

This is a Seneca mask representing a runner who died while delivering a message. Some Eskimo masks are so distorted that they look like abstractions by Picasso. Eskimos believe that all animals have souls; this mask shows a seal's soul emerging from its body. Finest piece of prehistoric (15th Century) sculpture ever found in the U. S., plowed up by a farmer near Lebanon, Tenn., three months ago

[ca. February 1941]

RightsCC0 — Public Domain

CollectionDigital Commonwealth — Boston Public Library

[Information from item housing] Indians: Art & Artifacts

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