Things in Motion ― Object Itineraries in Anthropological Practice

In 11 essays based on a School for Advanced Research seminar, “Things in Motion: Object Histories, Biographies, and Itineraries,” held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in May 2012, seminar participants use the concept of itineraries (as an alternative to the standard anthropological concept of object biography) to emphasize movement and trace the places archaeological objects have been in, the routes of their circulation, and how they are moved. They describe the movement of carved marble vases made in Ulua in Honduras, stone celts and figures at La Venta on the Mexican Gulf Coast, stone used by Tarascan people of West Mexico prior to Spanish colonization, glass beads that moved from European workshops to Spanish colonial places, the reuse of worked stones in Iberia, early ceramic production in the Lake Titicaca Basin of highland Bolivia, the antiquities trade of present-day museums, medical objects in Tanzania, historic baskets made in New England by Nipmuc women, and carved wooden paddles and earthenware vessels in ancient southeastern North America. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)