An ET Death Mask: A Mask Plaque from Mexico and Its Forty-Six Signs

This paper describes a carved stone plaque in the form of a mask, said by its seller to come from Mexico. Where it was found, who made it, when, and of what material are not known. The paper does not date it, and does not rule out modern manufacture.The front shows a face with two large eye openings, a scene across its top, and forty-six small signs set around the face. The scene shows three figures, which the author calls the Dragon, the Device, and the ET; "ET" is the author's label, not an identification. The back carries a second scene, which the author calls a dead ET funeral ceremony: a sleeper at the bottom, a stem rising to a table where an ET lies, and a being at each side. The readings of both scenes are the author's interpretations.The signs were mapped, numbered and photographed under a microscope, and each is shown beside its grooves taken from the photograph. Each sign was described by four counts: its pieces, free ends, junctions and closed loops. On these counts the signs fall within the range of 33 known writing systems, which shows compatibility, not writing. As far as they can be compared on the tracings, no two signs have the same form. In exploratory comparisons with random placements, the seven signs down the nose sit nearer the middle of the nose than chance places them; no tested grid met the threshold. For four signs the author proposes where each stroke starts and finishes, and for two of them an order of the strokes.This is a descriptive, exploratory study of one object. It is a companion to "An ET Horoscope" (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22063480), on a second plaque of this kind.