| Representing Prehistory: The Biographies of the Robenhausen Lake Dwelling Collections at the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (2008-2009) |
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Katherine Cooper
University of Cambridge
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Description:
This project is intended to be distinct from, but related to, my wider PhD research on representation and 19th century public conceptions of prehistory and in particular, the creation of collective archaeological knowledge. My case study focuses on prehistoric alpine lake dwellings and the various contexts and means by which the collection played a part in the visualization of prehistory. I am interested in the way a body of material like lake-dwelling collections were dispersed and re-displayed across the continent, taking the form of another archaeological concept such as lake dwellers or lake dwellings. What is particularly interesting about the Cambridge collection - and little to no attention has been paid to it are the biographies and transformations of the artefacts once they left their context of discovery. A number of the axe heads and ceramics have notes on the artefacts recording people that discovered or conserved them; much of the organic material has been preserved in frames or bottles onto which greetings/comments between professors and antiquarians and comments have been made, transforming the artefacts from prehistoric objects to artefacts with a palimpsest of meanings attached to them. These historic artefacts (made from prehistoric materials) are fascinating and under explored. This project intends to explore the historic context in which these artefacts were made, the processes of their production (e.g. much of the organic material was cut up to facilitate its dispersal abroad). It will consider the place of such objects as tokens of social relationships, evidence of a variously constructed prehistoric past and indexes of a new archaeological concept the lake dwellings. |
| Further Information |
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| There will be a museum exhibition and paper produced from this research in late 2009 |
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