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Abstract

The article is devoted to the great researcher of prehistoric art, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Ekaterina Georgievna Devlet. Her studies fundamentally enriched our knowledge about the Rock art of different periods and cultures of Eurasia and America. The researcher extensively used the methods of natural sciences. The article represents the general description of wooden masks with the original iconography found in the burials of the Xiaohe Bronze Age culture in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The organic artifacts, mummies and unique wooden masks of accompanying the deceased to another world were preserved because of dry climate. The authors have identifi ed similar iconographic features and possible semantic reconstructions as well.

Keywords

Prehistoric art, Ekaterina Devlet, the Xiaohe Bronze Age culture, wooden anthropomorphic masks

Vyacheslav I. Molodin

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

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