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Mississippian Terracotta Head Effigy Vessel - PF.0877
Origin: The Mississippi Valley, U.S.A.
Circa: 1300 AD to 1500 AD
Dimensions: 4.25" (10.8cm) high
Catalogue: V2
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Style: Mississippian
Medium: Terracotta

Location: United States

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Description

Ritual heads such as this were most probably used in the ancestor cults of the American Woodland Indians, which preserved and honored the remains of important deceased. Certainly the holes for earrings suggest that this is not a trophy head--a prize of war--but rather an object of veneration. Even though this is only a ceramic object, we are drawn to it as if it once had a real human presence, as if at any moment it might begin to speak of the life it once led. - (PF.0877)

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