Most masks are created locally of indigenous materials for particular ceremonies and are put away for the remainder of the year. A mask used only once a year and then kept wrapped and put away in a storage box may well show less wear and patina than a much more recent mask which has been kept hanging near the kitchen fire of a chimneyless stone house. Scientific testing is generally the only proof positive of the age of a mask unless one comes upon the rare example which can be dated from the written record or from the memories of these who remember stories of when it was new.