Stories from below

Human remains at the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History and the Museum of World Culture

Bibliographic Data

ID14904784
AuthorsHenrik B Lindskoug (0000-0002-4003-1173, corresponding author), Anders Gustavsson (0000-0002-2147-2969)
Year2015
Volume27
Issue1
Pages97-109
Publication date2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of Collections (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-6650 • E-ISSN: 1477-8564
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jhc/fhu036
OpenAlexW2078266677
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited3

This article adopts a ‘cultural biography’ approach to the examination of an archaeological collection from Arica, Chile, involving two museums located in Gothenburg, Sweden. It provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the collection and how the meanings and contexts of a cranium belonging to this collection have changed over time. Different stages in the biography of the cranium are reconstructed here: we document and describe a shift within the western museum world, focusing on Sweden, from considering the scientific value of human remains to considering another dimension linked to livelihood and personhood; we claim that following the intimate trajectory of an object permits us to move through and document the changing value systems in the history of museums in Sweden and its links to the early development of archaeology in South America, together with the collecting practices of Swedish and German scholars such as Max Uhle and Erland Nordenskiöld.

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Biology · Natural (archaeology) · Natural history · Conservation Techniques and Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access