DOCSLIB.ORG

Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past OXFORD STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY Editorial Board BETTINA ARNOLD MICHAEL DIETLER STEPHEN DYSON PETER ROWLEY-CONWY HOWARD WILLIAMS OXFORD STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY consists of scholarly works focusing on the history of archaeology throughout the world. The series covers the development of prehistoric, classical, colonial, and early historic archaeologies up to the present day. The studies, although researched at the highest level, are written in an accessible style and will interest a broad readership. A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past MARGARITA DI´ AZ-ANDREU 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Margarita Dı´az-Andreu 2007 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–921717–5 13579108642 To my husband, Angel, and my daughter Anna This page intentionally left blank Preface In 1999, while organizing a one-day conference on ‘Nationalism and Archae- ology’ held in the London School of Economics, I was encouraged by the well-known scholar of nationalism, the sociologist Anthony Smith, to write an overview. By then I was not new to the subject. Over the years I had been contributing to the lively debate over the value of understanding the political context for the development of archaeology. This contested the previously dominant internalist perspective on the history of archaeology, which focused on the progress of archaeological thought while taking little, if any, account of the socio-political and economic framework in which it was formulated. As part of the debate, I edited books on nationalism (Dı´az-Andreu & Champion 1996b; Dı´az-Andreu & Smith 2001), and women in academia (Dı´az-Andreu & Sørensen 1998b), as well as producing work more narrowly related to the archaeology of particular countries, Spain and, to a lesser extent, Britain. Throughout the 1999 conference it became obvious how uneven our understanding of developments in archaeology beyond Europe was. It was unclear how imperialism and colonialism had aVected archaeological practice in the colonies, as well as in parts of the world which resisted colonialism such as China and Japan. Also, studies on the growth of professional archaeology as a hegemonic discourse had not been matched by an examination of whether this had been contested by a minority of archaeologists themselves and by the general public, and whether there had been alternative accounts. Such studies had also focused on a narrow period starting in the late nineteenth century, but the literature on the impact on archaeology of the rise of nationalism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a topic explored by a handful of history of art scholars, was practically ignored by archaeologists. The organization of a joint conference between archaeologists and sociolo- gists also highlighted the potential for archaeology to proWt from insights formulated in other social sciences, such as history, sociology, history of art, the history of science, and literary studies. I have been working on topics related to the subject of this book for more than a decade and on the manuscript itself for seven years. This has required me to undertake an extremely wide reading and I have needed time to reXect upon previously undetected connections between diVerent parts of the globe. This does not mean that everybody who worked in archaeology anywhere in the world is mentioned here. This would not only be impossible, but also viii Preface belong to a diVerent sort of undertaking. My initial aim was to include in this book the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, but I subsequently realized that I could not cover all the issues in a single volume. However, chapters relating to twentieth-century archaeology have already been written and will hopefully form part of a future volume that will most probably take a fair deal of eVort to complete. This is a work of synthesis. Nevertheless, it is a more in- depth study than initially intended. To a considerable extent the research conducted for this project is based on three major types of readings. In the Wrst place, I have explored a narrow selection of contemporaneous writings by antiquarians, archaeologists, and other scientists and thinkers. Secondly, this work has greatly beneWted from analyses of the history of science carried out by anthropologists, historians, and philologists. Finally and most importantly, I have drawn on many studies on the history of archaeology in several languages, including English, German (to the extent that my knowledge of the language has allowed me), and several Romance tongues (French, Italian, and Spanish), which have helped my work tremendously and of which the bibliography at the end of the book is, I hope, good reXection. Nonetheless, I cannot pretend to have covered the entire literature of the subject. I am constrained by my limited mastery of most of the world’s languages, in which a lot of interesting information is no doubt to be found. While I alone am responsible for what has been written, I would like to acknowledge the great debt I owe to institutions and colleagues for providing essential support. A small—but extremely helpful—dean’s fund in the sum- mer of 2004 made it easier for me to use the British Library to access information diYcult to obtain otherwise. An invaluable grant from the AHRC allowed me extra time for research during October to December 2004, in addition to the two sabbatical terms provided by the university. This made it possible for me to have a good, Wrst draft of the volume ready by the time I returned to my teaching commitments. The research committee in my department also provided me with Wnancial help to pay for the editing of the English of the original text and later helped to alleviate my administrative commitments at the time when the volume had to be revised in light of the readers’ comments in summer 2006. As a non-native English speaker, for the successful completion of the project a team of English editors was needed: I am most grateful to Anwen CaVell, Gary Campbell, Jaime Jennings, Anne O’Connor, Megan Price, Kate Sharpe, and Angel Smith. I am also indebted to the large number of people who, over many years, have assisted with the writing of this project. My greatest debt is to Suzanne Marchand and to two other anonymous readers for Oxford University Press, who oVered insightful critiques of my manuscript. My response to their many comments has greatly improved the quality of the book. The following Preface ix scholars suggested ideas and shared information after having read one or more chapters: Nadia Erzini, Anna Leone, and Stephen Vernoit for North African archaeology, Daniel Scha´velzon for Latin America, Jarl Nordbladh for early nineteenth-century European archaeology, Rasmi Shoocongdej for Siam (Thailand), Neil Silberman for the archaeology of the biblical lands, Gina Barnes and Lothar von Falkenhausen for East Asia, Daniel Saunders for the Russian Empire, Charles Higham for Southeast Asia and Dilip Chakra- barti and Sudeshna Guha for India. Many others have been ready to answer speciWc questions and provided me with interesting ideas. In alphabetical order, these are Lois Armada, Marcello Barbanera, Tim Bayliss-Smith, Gary Campbell, Haydon L. Cherry, B. F. Cook, Per Cornell, Jordi Cortadella, Noe¨l Coye, Chris Evans, Lothar von Falkenhausen, Vı´ctor Ferna´ndez, Lucio Menezes Ferreira, Pedro Paulo Funari, Brien K. Garnand, Norman Girardot, Chris Heaton, Christine Hertler, Caroline Humphreys, Jørgen Jensen, Matthew Johnson, Lise Bender Jorgensen, Anessa Kassam, Lars Larsson, Jose´ Ramo´n Lo´pez Rodrı´guez, Peter Manuelian, Suzanne Marchand, Jaume Masso´,Aron Mazel, Chris Miele, Ignacio Montero, Gloria Mora, Oscar Moro, Tim Murray, Aleksandr Naymark, Elisabeth Nordbladh, Anne O’Connor, Ayse Ozdemir, David W. Phillipson, Peter Rowley-Conwy, Laurajane Smith, Pamela Jane Smith, Ulrike Sommer, Marie Louis Stig Sørensen, Ruth Struwe, Igor L.Tikho- nov, Mogens Trolle Larsen, Luis Va´zquez Leo´n, Guus Veenendaal, Stephen Vernoit, Ha˚kan Wahlquist, Hartmut Walravens, Stine Wiell, Penny Wilson, and Oliver Zimmer. This book owes an intellectual debt to many people in Spain (for the whole list see Dı´az-Andreu 2002: 11–13), to Bruce Trigger’s work, which has made history of archaeology an acceptable enterprise in the eyes of my colleagues and to the members of the AREA (Archives of European Archaeology) project.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Archaeological Recovery at Quebrada De La Vaca, Chala, Peru Francis A
    Andean Past Volume 8 Article 16 2007 Archaeological Recovery at Quebrada de la Vaca, Chala, Peru Francis A. Riddell deceased Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, and the Architectural History and Criticism Commons Recommended Citation Riddell, Francis A. (2007) "Archaeological Recovery at Quebrada de la Vaca, Chala, Peru," Andean Past: Vol. 8 , Article 16. Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past/vol8/iss1/16 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Andean Past by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECOVERY AT QUEBRADA DE LA VACA, CHALA, PERU FRANCIS A. RIDDELL Founder of the California Institute for Peruvian Studies INTRODUCTION1 Elements of the Inca road system were clearly visible as they came into the settlement. The site of Quebrada de la Vaca (PV77-3) These, combined with the excellent overall is a few kilometers west (up coast) from the condition of the ruins, made it apparent to von town of Chala in the Department of Arequipa Hagen that further investigation would make a on the south coast of Peru (Figures 1 and 2). It major contribution to his study of Inca roads. is also called Puerto Inca. Max Uhle visited Because of its clear juxtaposition to both roads Quebrada de la Vaca in 1905 (Rowe 1956:138). and the sea, as well as the extensive area of However, interest in the site developed cultivatable land that surrounds it, the following Victor von Hagen’s decision to make settlement at Quebrada de la Vaca played an investigations there an aspect of his study of the important role in Inca procurement, storage, Inca road system (von Hagen 1955).
    [Show full text]
  • Alfred Kidder II in the Development of American Archaeology: a Biographical and Contextual View Karen L
    Andean Past Volume 7 Article 14 2005 Alfred Kidder II in the Development of American Archaeology: A Biographical and Contextual View Karen L. Mohr Chavez deceased Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Mohr Chavez, Karen L. (2005) "Alfred Kidder II in the Development of American Archaeology: A Biographical and Contextual View," Andean Past: Vol. 7 , Article 14. Available at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past/vol7/iss1/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Andean Past by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ALFRED KIDDER II IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY: A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CONTEXTUAL VIEW KAREN L. MOHR CHÁVEZ late of Central Michigan University (died August 25, 2001) Dedicated with love to my parents, Clifford F. L. Mohr and Grace R. Mohr, and to my mother-in-law, Martha Farfán de Chávez, and to the memory of my father-in-law, Manuel Chávez Ballón. INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY SERGIO J. CHÁVEZ1 corroborate crucial information with Karen’s notes and Kidder’s archive. Karen’s initial motivation to write this biography stemmed from the fact that she was one of Alfred INTRODUCTION Kidder II’s closest students at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as her main M.A. thesis This article is a biography of archaeologist Alfred and Ph.D. dissertation advisor and provided all Kidder II (1911-1984; Figure 1), a prominent necessary assistance, support, and guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • Orientalism and the Reality Effect: Angkor at the Universal Expositions, 1867–1937
    Orientalism and the Reality Effect: Angkor at the Universal Expositions, 1867–1937 Isabelle Flour I found this reproduction of Angkor extremely moving, and then, straight away, I told myself: “Is it accurate? Is the reality more or less grand?” — René Benjamin, 19221 In his report on the 1922 Exposition coloniale at Marseille for the French populist weekly magazine L’Illustration, the reactionary novelist René Benjamin echoed the sentiments of most visitors to universal expositions, who had, since 1867, witnessed the trend of reproducing emblematic architectural monuments through the building of ephemeral national pavilions. As has been analyzed in Saidian terms specifically by Tim Mitchell for Egypt and by Zeynep Çelik for Islamic architecture, the question of the accuracy of these architectural reconstructions was central to the representation of nations or cultures that were considered integral parts of the essentialist category “the Orient.”2 In most cases, the construction of a fantasized Orient at the universal and colonial expositions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a constituent of an imperialist nar- rative seeking to demonstrate the inferior, preevolutionary, and premodern condition of an exoticized “Other” in order to legitimate the Western civilizing mission. This intellec- tual construct was mediated by pavilions or urban quarters of native architecture — built in many cases by European architects — and supplemented by indigenous people whose role was to authenticate the fictional settings in which they performed. Whereas much ink has been spilled on the phantasmatic nature of the reproduction of Islamic architec- ture at the universal expositions, the case of Cambodia has been somewhat overlooked in recent literature despite its remarkable documentation in the Getty Research Institute’s vast collection of related visual materials.3 In fact, Cambodia shared a common fate with all things “Oriental,” and the his- tory of its representation in Europe was deeply embedded in French colonial institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • Battered Beauties a Research on French
    Simone Bijlard Battered Beauties Battered Beauties A research on French colonial markets in Cambodia by Simone Bijlard Colophon Research thesis Battered Beauties By Simone Bijlard Committee members: dr. G. Bracken (research) ir. R.J. Notrott (architecture) ir. E.J. van der Zaag (building technology) Delft University of Technology Department of Architecture MSc 3, 4 Explore Lab March 2011 Preface Large ceiling fans turn lazily overhead, even though home when they drank their own Chardonnay. barbecues sizzle with savoury sausages. the blazing heat has disappeared with the setting of But it is a rêverie, only existing in these few While eating my dessert - a baked banana - I wander the sun. The rhythmic sound of the fans, combined restaurants in the colonial quarter of Phnom Penh. around the stalls of the market. Although the market with my first glass of wine in a while makes me For life in Cambodia has moved on. The French is about to close, there is still much to see. Some comfortably drowsy. I lean backwards in my large left and brought upon the region, one could say, a vendors are desperately trying to sell their last fresh cane armchair and watch the waitresses in their blood-stricken conflict. It resulted in a genocidal produce. I see whole pig’s heads, live tortoises, meticulously tailored dresses pass by. A musician communist regime. colourful heaps of fruit, the latest fashion. plays on a bamboo xylophone, making me even So how much is there to say about the French? Towering above my head is a grand structure, more at ease.
    [Show full text]
  • NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru Donald A
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Research Report 05: NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Anthropology Department Research Reports series Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru 1970 NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru Donald A. Proulx University of Massachusetts - Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_res_rpt5 Part of the Anthropology Commons, and the Eastern European Studies Commons Proulx, Donald A., "NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru" (1970). Research Report 05: NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru. 7. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/anthro_res_rpt5/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology Department Research Reports series at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Report 05: NASCA Gravelots in the Uhle Collection from the Ica Valley, Peru by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. " NASCA GRAVELOTS IN THE UHLE COLLECTION FROf'1 THE ICA VALLEY, PERU by Donald A. Proulx Department of Anthropology Uni versi ty of ~Iassachusetts Amherst" 1970 .. i PREfACE This monograph is an outgrowth of research begun in 1962 when I was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley. At that time I began an analysis of the Nasca grave lots in the Uhle Collection under the able supervision of Dr. John H. Rowe. He and Mr. Lawrence E. Dawson of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology introduced me to seriational techniques and ceramic analysis and taught me much about the Nasca style.
    [Show full text]
  • Nasca Culture Integration and Complexity: a Perspective from the Site of La Tiza
    Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35 (2014) 234–247 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Anthropological Archaeology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa Nasca culture integration and complexity: A perspective from the site of La Tiza Christina A. Conlee Texas State University, Department of Anthropology, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA article info abstract Article history: The Nasca culture (AD 1-650) located on the south coast of Peru has been interpreted in many ways since Received 21 January 2014 it was first investigated by Max Uhle in 1901. Scholars have described it as a middlerange society, Revision received 16 June 2014 heterarchy, simple chiefdom, confederacy, paramount chiefdom, theocracy, state, and empire. This paper explores past interpretations of Nasca and presents data from the site of La Tiza in the southern Nasca drainage. The evidence from La Tiza indicates that population was larger and settlements were more Keywords: variable than has previously been proposed for southern Nasca. In addition, there are indications of a Nasca culture greater degree of social differentiation and ritual activities not previously identified at other sites in Integration the area. This has implications for the overall integration and complexity of the Nasca culture. Complexity Inequality Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Peru Early Intermediate Period 1. Introduction Silverman and Proulx, 2002; Vaughn, 2009). The last twenty years have seen a proliferation of research on the Nasca culture and there Since it was first investigated by Max Uhle in 1901, the Nasca is now a great deal of new data that can be used to better assess the culture of the Early Intermediate Period (AD 1-650) has been inter- nature of this ancient society.
    [Show full text]
  • LORI M. JAHNKE Robert W
    LORI M. JAHNKE Robert W. Woodruff Library • Emory University 540 Asbury Circle •Atlanta, GA 30322 [email protected] • 404-727-0115 EDUCATION Postdoctoral Fellowship, History of Medicine and Informatics, 2009-2011 The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Ph.D., Biological Anthropology, 2009 Tulane University, New Orleans, LA Dissertation: Human biological variation and cemetery distribution in the Huaura Valley, Peru (John Verano, chair) Abstract: The Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000-1476) on the coast of Peru was a time of widespread interaction within the context of regional political transition. Despite recent scholarly interest in Late Intermediate Period sociopolitical dynamics, the role of the central coast culture known as the Chancay remains enigmatic. Using a biological distance approach to analyze the relationship of human variation to mortuary practice and site geography, this research evaluates archaeological and ethnohistoric hypotheses of population history on the central coast and the relationship of its residents to the surrounding regions. M.A., Biological Anthropology; Skeletal Biology, 2005 Tulane University, New Orleans, LA B.A., magna cum laude, Anthropology with Honors; Geology, American Indian Studies Minors, 1998 Hamline University, St. Paul, MN Thesis: Impact of Subsistence and Lifestyle Change at the Lindholm Site (21BS3), MN GRANTS AND AWARDS 2012 Project Supervisor (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia), Expanding the Medical Heritage Library:
    [Show full text]
  • Pots, Pans, and Politics: Feasting in Early Horizon Nepeña, Peru Kenneth Edward Sutherland Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2017 Pots, Pans, and Politics: Feasting in Early Horizon Nepeña, Peru Kenneth Edward Sutherland Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Sutherland, Kenneth Edward, "Pots, Pans, and Politics: Feasting in Early Horizon Nepeña, Peru" (2017). LSU Master's Theses. 4572. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4572 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POTS, PANS, AND POLITICS: FEASTING IN EARLY HORIZON NEPEÑA, PERU A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Kenneth Edward Sutherland B.S. and B.A., Louisiana State University, 2015 August 2017 DEDICATION I wrote this thesis in memory of my great-grandparents, Sarah Inez Spence Brewer, Lillian Doucet Miller, and Augustine J. Miller, whom I was lucky enough to know during my youth. I also wrote this thesis in memory of my friends Heather Marie Guidry and Christopher Allan Trauth, who left this life too soon. I wrote this thesis in memory of my grandparents, James Edward Brewer, Matthew Roselius Sutherland, Bonnie Lynn Gaffney Sutherland, and Eloise Francis Miller Brewer, without whose support and encouragement I would not have returned to academic studies in the face of earlier adversity.
    [Show full text]
  • Flies, Mochicas and Burial Practices: a Case Study from Huaca De La Luna, Peru
    Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 2846e2856 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Flies, Mochicas and burial practices: a case study from Huaca de la Luna, Peru J.-B. Huchet a,*, B. Greenberg b a Laboratoire de Paléoanthropologie de l’EPHE, UMR 5199, PACEA-LAPP, Université Bordeaux 1, Bât. B 8, Avenue des Facultés, F-33405, Talence Cedex, France b Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street (MC 066) Chicago, IL 60607, USA article info abstract Article history: Study of a specific insect fauna from a pre-Columbian Moche grave, on the north coast of Peru, reveals Received 23 April 2010 burial practices, notably an estimation of the corpse’s exposure time prior to burial, and compares New Received in revised form and Old World beliefs concerning flies and death. 21 June 2010 Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Accepted 22 June 2010 Keywords: Funerary archaeoentomology pre-Colombian America Moche civilisation Burial practices Beetle Fly pupae Parasitoid wasp 1. Introduction to propose a distinct terminology for this specific field of research: “Funerary Archaeoentomology” (l’Archéoentomologie funéraire). The use of forensic entomology in archaeological investigations The Huacas de Moche site is located on the northern coast of is relatively recent and the literature on this topic remains scarce. Peru, in the vicinity of Trujillo, 550 km north of Lima. The archae- Nevertheless, such studies could be especially valuable in the ological complex includes two monumental pyramids built as following ways: understanding mortuary practices (Gilbert and a series of platforms: Huaca del Sol (Temple of the Sun) and Huaca Bass, 1967; Faulkner, 1986; Dirrigl and Greenberg, 1995; Bourget, de la Luna (Temple of the Moon), separated by a vast urban centre.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Information
    BRITISH MUSEUM Caroline Tully School of Historical and Philosophical Studies University of Melbourne Melbourne, Victoria Australia [email protected] Basic Information Situated in Great Russell Street, London, the British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/) was created by an Act of Parliament in 1753 and opened to the public in 1759. Governed by a board of 25 trustees in accordance with the British Museum Act of 1963 and the Museums and Galleries Act of 1992, the museum is a non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The museum’s stated purpose is “to hold for the benefit and education of humanity a collection representative of world cultures and to ensure that the collection is housed in safety, conserved, curated, researched and exhibited” (British Museum n.d.). The British Museum originated with the collection belonging to physician and naturalist, Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), which consisted of natural history specimens, ethnographic material, antiquities, jewellery, coins, medals, prints, and orientalia. This was combined with a large library of manuscripts assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, and the Harleian Library, the manuscript collection of the earls of Oxford. Expanded in 1757 with the addition of King George II’s donation of the old Royal Library, the museum thus originally mainly consisted of natural history specimens, books and manuscripts. In 1772 the museum acquired its first collection of notable antiquities with the Greek vases belonging to Sir William Hamilton. In 1807 it created a specific Department of Antiquities which, in 1860, was divided into three: Greek and Roman Antiquities; Oriental Antiquities; and Coins and Medals.
    [Show full text]
  • Sculpture from India Michael D
    Chapter 12 Sculpture from India Michael D. Willis he Indian collections at the British Museum are unmatched for their quality, T historical importance and iconographic variety. 1 No other museum can boast such a we~th of material or provide such a comprehensive picture of ancient fndian civilisation. That the collections have this importance is due solely to Augustus Wol­ laston Franks. Before his appointment the Museum had only a few sculptures and there was little interest in expanding the corpus; by the time he retired the Indian collections were unsurpassed, a position they still hold after one hundred years. This was no small achievement. Early days The importance ofFran.ks's contribution is highlighted by a review of how the Indian collections developed before his arrival in 1851. The fust Indian piece to come to the Museum was an alabaster Shiva linga (OA 1786.3- 31, 1), presented by Charles Bathurst in 1786. According to a nineteenth-century record slip in the Department of Oriental Antiquities, the linga was sent to Bathurst by Thomas North after it had been obtained during Shuja ud-Daula'swaragainstthe Rohillas. The linga is decorated on the base with gilt floral designs and small painted figures of devotees. T hese are in the late Mughal style of the eighteenth century and indicate that the piece was contemporary when it entered the Museum. To all appearances this might seem an auspicious and encouraging start. Franks continued to acquire contemporary things and the Museum still pursues such a policy today. Efforts faltered, however, in the first half of the nineteenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transformation of Objects Into Artifacts
    THE TRANSFORMATION OF OBJECTS INTO ARTIFACTS, ANTIQUITIES, AND ART IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY INDIA HIS CHAPTER explores how things are fabricated and how they are transformed into objects that have value and meaning. The context is T India and Great Britain in the nineteenth century. An object, be it a fired piece of clay, a bone, paper with colors applied to it, a lump of metal shaped into a sharp point, a shiny stone which is polished, a feather, everything that we think of as existing in nature, can be transformed through human labor into a product which has a meaning, use, and value. A pot shard dug up and placed in a museum with a label identifying and dating it becomes a specimen along with thousands of others, which establish, for the archaeologist, a history. A bone found in a particular geological formation becomes a fossil for a palaentologist to read as part of an evolutionary sequence. For someone else this bone ground up becomes an aphrodisiac. The paper covered by paint is a god; in another time and place, it is a work of art. A piece of cloth fabricated for presentation marking the alliance between two families through a marriage becomes a bedspread. A piece of metal shaped and sharpened and used as a weapon by a great warrior becomes for his descendants an emblem of his power, and is carefully stored away in an armory, to be brought out in times of trouble to rally a failing army. In the hands of his enemies, it becomes a trophy.
    [Show full text]