From non-human masquerade to human masking. Notes for a prehistory of the mask

This article investigates the evolutionary origins of masks by conducting a comparative analysis of morphological and cognitive similarities between human masking practices and animal masquerade. By examining diverse forms of concealment and disguise employed across the animal kingdom to deceive the perceptual systems of predators, prey, or potential mates, the study seeks to identify the minimal cognitive and behavioural conditions that enable masks to function within human cultures. From this perspective, it argues that the perceptual and cognitive capacities of seeing-as and seeing-in—skills fundamental to mimetic behaviour in animals—have, in the broader trajectory of human cognitive and cultural evolution, become foundational to the creation of masks and, more broadly, of images.