Death masks of Mycenae

The death masks of Mycenae are a series of golden funerary masks found on buried bodies within a burial site titled Grave Circle A, located within the ancient Greek city of Mycenae. There are seven discovered masks in total, found with the burials of six adult males and one male child. There were no women who had masks.^[1] They were discovered by Heinrich Schliemann during his 1876 excavation of Mycenae.

There is also a death mask found in Grave Circle B, but it differs from the Circle A masks both in material, as it is made from electrum, and placement, as it was placed in a container besides an entombed body, rather than being placed upon the deceased.^[2] The relative scarcity of death masks in Grave Circle B indicate that the buried dead were of lesser wealth or status, rather than Grave Circle A with an abundance of material made from valuable materials, such as the Death masks.^[3]