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In most traditional African cultures, the person who wears a ritual mask conceptually loses his or her human identity and turns into the spirit represented by the mask itself. African masks are usually shaped after a human face or an animal's muzzle and usually made in highly abstract form. Like many masks these were usually made from wood or metal. A wide array of ornamental items such as animal hair, horns, or teeth, sea shells, seeds, straws, egg shell, and feathers were usually applied.. For example, animal hair or straws are often used for a mask's hair or beard.

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Ritual masks were worn by priests during rituals. These were made in the likeness of animal heads like the gods of Ancient Egypt. E.g the head of Anubis the god of death that appears like the jackal.http://pinterest.com/pin/390828073886370026/

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A beaten gold mask from the Nazca civilization of Peru, 200 BCE-500 CE. 18.4 x 20.5 cm. The mask represents a shaman in transformational pose, a common motif in Nazca art. An alternative interpretation is that it represents the weeping sun deity common to several ancient Andean cultures. The first civilisation settled along the Andes Mountains and regularly held religious celebrations to honour the sun god. It was during these rituals that the Inca people created the first Peruvian masks. The Inca people also made crude masks shaped like animal faces for hunting made from wood, cotton and feathers. Archaeologists have found several cave paintings in Peru that depict hunters wearing these masks, suggesting that they were an important part of early Peruvian culture.

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A turquoise mosaic mask representing Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire from 1400-1521 CE. The mask is of cedar wood with mother-of-pearl eyes, conch shell teeth, and once had gold leaf on the eyelids. These masks were made to be displayed not worn which is why they have little or no eye holes and were placed on stone or walls. These masks were covered in mosaics made of various materials.  The mask itself could be made of green or black stone, wood, obsidian (a hard dark volcanic glass/stone) or even placed on a real human skull.  Common mosaic materials were turquoise, obsidian, gold pyrite, coral, and shell.  Sometimes the mask would simply have inlaid teeth and eyes.

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In ancient Egypt, masks were primarily used for two purposes: as death masks and as ritual masks. Ancient Egyptians believed that mummification was very important to preserve a body of the dead because the soul has to have a place where to dwell after death. They wanted the sole to recognize the body so it can return to it which was the reason for death masks.  Early masks were made from wood, in two pieces and connected with pegs. After that lower class Egyptians used a material made from papyrus or linen and soaked in plaster and then moulded on a wooden mould. Royal death masks were made from precious metals and gold or gold leaves on bronze. The death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is a well known mask. The mask is made of gold, precious stones and glass inlay from 14th century BCE and represents the fashion with painted jewellery and makeup.
http://etc.ancient.eu/2014/11/28/12-ancient-masks/

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In Rome the word persona meant 'a mask'; it also referred to an individual who had full Roman citizenship. A citizen could demonstrate his or her lineage through death masks of the ancestors. These were wax casts kept in a lararium which was where prayers were made to the Gods. Rites of passage, such as initiation of young members of the family, or funerals, were carried out under the watch of the ancestral masks. At funerals, professional actors would wear these masks to perform deeds of the lives of the ancestors linking the role of mask as a ritual object and in theatre. This mask is the Cavalry Face-Mask Helmet.http://etc.ancient.eu/2014/11/28/12-ancient-masks/

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The word "mask" appeared in English in the 1530s, from Middle French masque "covering to hide or guard the face", The use of masks in rituals or ceremonies is a very ancient human practice across the world. Masks can now also be worn for protection, in hunting, in sports, in feasts, in wars or simply used as ornamentation. However, some ceremonial or decorative masks were not designed to be worn. In history the area and time the mask was made of determined the style quality and material it was made from.

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The oldest masks that have been discovered are said to be 9,000 years old and found in locations close to Jerusalem. The old stone masks are thought to have been made to resemble the spirits of dead ancestors and also thought to have made at a critical turning point that saw the birth of agriculture and the abandonment of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. These masks have round holes for eyes, tiny noses and prominent displays of teeth. Historians predict that the wearers of these masks were the first farmers and people that actually lived  in large groups and they were the creators of civilisation."