Image a) | 
Image b) | 
Image c) | 
Image d) | |
It was only at the beginning of the 20th century that clay masks and mask fragments dating from the 2nd c. A.D. were discovered near the town of Mautern on the Danube. Ex. a) shows a complete mask in the shape of a calf's head. The mask in Ex. b) is supposed to be a devil ("Teufelsfratze") with animal ears and horns but otherwise human. The fragment of a mask shown in ex. c) looks like a pig's head, the one in ex. d) has human features. The masks may have been destined for heathen
masquerades at the beginning of the new year that the church had
prohibited, or for the period of Lent. These are the so-called
calf-and-deer imitations ("Kälbchen- und Hirschlein-Darstellen") and the
"Monstra" (devil's mask). Similar animal masks can be found all around the
world, especially during periods of a changing season. (E. Stadler)
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