In 2020, archaeologists uncovered a 3,000-year-old gold mask alongside other artifacts in Southwest China. The ceremonial mask was found within sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui in Sichuan province ...

This gold death mask was found by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 during excavations of a Bronze Age tomb at ...

and features a 5.5-pound golden beard as part of the larger 22.5-pound gold mask. That beard may have been an afterthought when the young ruler died unexpectedly at roughly 19 years of age in 1323.