The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019

GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

THE BIOGRAPHY OF OBJECTS

C. Greco *
(Keynote)

Museo Egizio, Torino. Via Accademia delle Scienze 6, 10123 Torino, Italy - christian.greco@museoegizio.it

KEY WORDS: biography of objects, digital revolution, humanism, cognitive process, multidisciplinary approach, museums

ABSTRACT:

Today we find ourselves immersed in what is called the digital revolution, which has already profoundly transformed our cognitive
approach and working methods. In archaeology, photogrammetry and 3D modelling enable archaeologists to document the whole
excavation process and reconstruct contexts even after they have been removed. We can reproduce a coffin with sub-millimetric
accuracy by recording all its phases of production and reuse. Non-invasive diagnostic imaging enables us to peer inside a still sealed
vessel and virtually unwrap the mummies. Accurate analysis now gives scholars the opportunity to observe the fibres of a papyrus,
helping us recompose ancient documents. Then digital communication enables us to create virtual working environments in which
scholars from all over the world can confer and compare their data. All this facilitates and accelerates the work of scholars.
Does this mean that the humanist's role is becoming secondary? Quite the contrary. The data we glean is increasingly detailed and
complex and requires an even greater level of interpretation. The scientist and the humanist have to work together even more closely
to try and unravel the complexity of the contemporary world. This increasing collaboration goes beyond the dogmatisms of
individual knowledge. The definition of a shared semantics and the development of a true multidisciplinary approach are the only
method we have to cope with the challenges of the future.
And in all this, what will the role of the museum be? Are these institutions destined to disappear? The changes will continue. We
will think of different organisational and architectural solutions responding to contemporary needs. There will certainly also be new
forms of cultural enjoyment. Our task, however, will always be to improve the visual, aesthetic and intellectual experience of every
visitor who comes face to face with a piece of the past, and to provide all the information necessary to enrich their understanding. So
the future of museums is, as it has always been, research.

1. DIGITAL REVOLUTION AND HUMANISM Now, modern archaeometric analyses can help us to answer
many of the questions that crop up when we study an ancient
The There is an interdependence between human beings and the container. Sometimes already autopsic analysis or diagnostic
material culture they produce. The objects they create survive imaging enable us to discover highly interesting details, such as
them and remain evidence of their lives, habits and the presence of the fingerprints of the artist that modelled the
relationships. The task of an archaeologist is to reconstruct the object. Isotope investigations allow us to understand what type
usages and customs of the ancients on the basis of their material of clay was used and even determine where it came from.
culture. To do this, it is essential to investigate each artefact to Analysis of the residue may provide us with clues to the last
try and understand its biography in depth. liquid contained in a vase. So that, by gathering all this
Each object embodies a wealth of information. First of all we information, the object gradually reveals its history, enables us
can try to place it in a time frame and seek to understand where to reconstruct its biography and becomes the instrument of
it comes from and what its function was. However, analysis interpretation to understand the habits and customs of the
cannot stop at this level. The artefact contains a series of ancients (Miller, 2005).
‘hidden’ clues that enable us to find the answers to a whole Yet, to consider the artefact as a mere historical document, as
series of questions. I like to recall, as does Ian Hodder at the the surviving witness to a distant and vanished world, does not
beginning of his book Entangled (in which he analyses the close do full justice to its value. When we visit a museum and admire
relationship between human beings and objects), the definition an artefact kept in a display case, we establish a relationship
that Martin Heidegger gave of jar, in his work Poetry, Language with it that goes beyond the testimony to the world to which it
and Thought of 1971 (Hodder, 2012; Heidegger, 1971). belonged. Such an object, is given a new ‘life’ in the present. It
There is, in fact, a certain dissatisfaction in merely giving a is admired, studied, classified, interpreted and acquires a value
description of a vase, indicating its chronology and identifying that is probably very different from what it had in the past. An
its typology. When we think of its function, we understand that ancient Egyptian sarcophagus was certainly not created to be
it is essential to know what liquid it held. The substance might displayed in a glass case and admired as an art object.
have been oil, beer, wine or simply water. Sometimes the Hence this second life, conducted in the museum, also has its
contents were used in a ritual context, for example to perform a value and must be analysed and studied. We could say that in
libation to the gods. It could therefore be affirmed that the jar reconstructing the biography of the archaeological object we
can be studied as a connecting element between the earth, as it should not forget that it was forgotten and lost. Sometimes it
is made of clay, men, since they created it, and the heavens, may have been reused for different tasks and purposes, then
because it could be used in a religious ritual. rediscovered in archaeological excavations, was restored to a

* Corresponding author

This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-5-2019 | © Authors 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. 5
 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019
GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

new life and now it performs its function within a museum archaeology and anthropology to define the role of the
display. individual in promoting change? Not the primary conscious
So to reconstruct the biography of an artefact kept in a museum, agency typical of human intentionality but another kind
we should not forget the value of the archives that document the attributed to them by humans? Artefacts exert over us a
history of its acquisition on the antiquarian market or its fascination, such as their duration, which brings us into contact
archaeological discovery, as well as the importance it may have with ‘the other’, the ‘different’ from us. This is then increased
had in the history of this intellectual discipline and the interest by knowledge. We could therefore say that the agency of
it has aroused among scholars and the civil community in artefacts is defined by their intrinsic characteristics and the way
general. An examination of the publications and an analysis of we perceive and imagine them (Dobres, Robb, 2009).
the results of the studies conducted by those who in the recent As mentioned above, studies of material culture increasingly
and distant past have devoted themselves to the comprehension tend to relate objects to their historical, archaeological context
of the above-mentioned object enable us to understand another and the biographies of artefacts enable us to explore cultural
fundamental point, namely the way research is constantly relations and define variations in social structures. Thus, in
evolving. some cases, as in the history of ancient Egypt, we are able to
Great scholars of the past, those who first succeeded in reconstruct the lives and roles played by the people who lived in
deciphering the language of the ancient Egyptians, for example, the distant past only thanks to the objects and examples of the
had insights, were able to grasp in depth the significance of a material culture that have come down to us. In this case, the
specific finding and their conclusions remain valid. Meanwhile, subject’s dependence on the object becomes clearly evident.
new discoveries, different observations, and a change in point In reality, all through our cognitive process, we have to mitigate
of view have sometimes led us to alter our conclusions the fictitious opposition between conscious subject and inert
(Meskell, 2004). object. The dependence on material culture is explicitly seen
Research teaches us to constantly question our results in an when, for example, we wish to formulate complex calculations
attempt to understand the ancient world thoroughly and to and we therefore have recourse to paper and pen or calculators
understand more about ourselves. The study of a past and computers. To construct memory and recollection we also
civilization in depth entails the analysis of historical events, the use material means that enable us to store data. Sometimes, as
interpretation of written sources and archaeological data, a Malafouris has shown, it becomes truly a complex matter to
study of the society, of the economic, social and political make a clear distinction between subject and object in the
organisation, administration, the evolution of thought, theology cognitive process (Malafouris, 2013; Malafouris, Renfrew
and rituality bound up with the cult of the supernatural, 2010).
conceptions of life after death and considerations on the If we think of a blind person who is capable of having a
transience of human existence. perception of the world that surrounds him, and acquire
Archaeology has brought to light settlements that allow us to mobility thanks to a white stick, where can we say that the
discover human activities from thousands of years ago. We are perception of himself as opposed to the other begins? At the end
all indebted to this past history and one outcome of it. Our own of the hand or of the stick? The interconnection between
biological structure, our technology, the structure of society and ‘things’ and humans is truly pervasive and in a constant
contemporary culture, even our cognitive method and our relationship of mutual influence. Our own biological and
psychology, derive from the past. Historical awareness and the cognitive structure is influenced by material culture and for this
study of ancient civilisations are therefore essential to reason we have to commit ourselves to studying the relationship
understanding our role in the present (Renfrew, 2016). between body, mind and artefacts. Despite the fact that this
awareness is widespread, there remains a distance to be bridged
2. NATURE OF OBJECTS, MATERIALS AND between the human and the natural sciences.
COGNITIVE FACTORS The humanists, in fact, while stressing that the relationship and
interconnection between subject and object is essential to the
What is the nature of objects? They are certainly interconnected understanding of history, tend to adopt a humancentric
with each other and with human beings, but what are their approach and in studies of the agency of material culture,
characteristics and how can we define them and become aware phenomenology and cognitive archaeology, they pay little
of them? Studies on material culture lead us back to Hegel’s attention to the materiality of the object. Archaeometers, on the
Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807). By describing the direct other hand, record all the morphological characteristics of
relationship between subject and object, the German objects by studying their chemical and physical features.
philosopher enables us to understand that humanity needs If the humanists, therefore, focus on the social and historical
objects to understand itself. The indefinite subject becomes processes by which material culture is produced and influences
aware of its nature by understanding that there is a reality that is human existence, while natural scientists give us an exact
different from itself. Self-awareness is achieved by creating ‘the account of the intrinsic characteristics of objects, we run the
other or the object’. Thus the subject is defined in relation to the risk of undertaking the study of artefacts via two parallel and
object, something, therefore, opposed to it. non-communicating paths. Coming to a composition between
This first cognitive level, however, leads to dissatisfaction and these two approaches is absolutely necessary if we are to
the subject tends to reincorporate the object within itself, a understand the complexity of human history and the world that
phenomenon that Hegel termed ‘sublation’. In this way new surrounds it. Humanists have to involve the archaeometers in
transcendent and collective forces such as society, law, religion, defining the theoretical framework that defines studies of
which tend to form ‘the universal’ are identified. The material culture; and natural scientists, at the same time, should
objectification described by Hegel is the process by which we realize that the role of the humanists is fundamental to fully
create the world and define ourselves. This implies that there is understanding the interdependence between human beings and
no static subject-object contrast but a dialectical relationship in artefacts.
continuous evolution. The archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, philosopher,
Can we also say that objects are endowed with a certain neuroscientist, psychologist and social scientist need to work
‘agency’, a term that defines a category widely used in side by side with the chemist, physicist and computer expert to

This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-5-2019 | © Authors 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. 6
 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019
GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

arrive at a definition of a new semantics that will enable us to discovery, which would have allowed the progress of technical
understand the complexity of reality. scientific research and improved knowledge of the world:

3. THE STUDY OF THE PAST AND MODERN ‘Gentlemen, we believe we must anticipate the will of
METHODS OF INVESTIGATION Parliament by proposing to acquire, in the name of the
state, the ownership of a discovery which is as useful as it is
‘Writing, Phaedrus, has this strange quality, and is very unexpected and which it is important and in the interest of
like painting; for the creatures of painting stand like living the arts and sciences to be made public.
beings, but if one asks them a question, they preserve a You all know, and some of you, Gentlemen, have perhaps
solemn silence. And so it is with written words; you might already had the opportunity to be convinced of the fact that
think they spoke as if they had intelligence, but if you after fifteen years of costly work and perseverance, Mr.
question them, wishing to know about their sayings, they Daguerre has finally succeeded in discovering a procedure
always say only one and the same thing. And every word, that makes it possible to fix the various objects reflected in
when once it is written, is bandied about, alike among those a camera obscura and also to describe them in four or five
who understand and those who have no interest in it, and it minutes, thanks to the power of light drawings, in which
knows not to whom to speak or not to speak; when ill- objects preserve their mathematical design in their most
treated or unjustly reviled it always needs its father to help minute details, and in which the effects of linear
it; for it has no power to protect or help itself’ (Plat. perspective, and the decrease of the shadows generated by
Phaedrus 275d-e).1 aerial perspective are rendered to an unprecedented degree
of beauty.
In the course of human history there have been various phases We cannot dwell here on the immense usefulness of this
when significant changes and important innovations have led us invention. But it will be easy to understand what resources,
to rethink our cognitive systems and research methods. The what new facilities it will bring to the study of the sciences;
defence of the spoken word made by Socrates in Athens in the and, as far as the arts are concerned, the services that it
late 5th BCE century is certainly significant. will be able to render go beyond all predictions. Designers
The philosopher held that writing might hamper discourse and and painters, even the most skilled, will find a constant
would lack the hermeneutical possibility guaranteed by the object of observation in this perfect reproduction of nature.
maieutic method that Socrates said he had learned from his On the other hand, this procedure will offer them an easy
mother Phaenarete, a midwife. As a woman, she facilitated and rapid method for creating collections of sketches and
childbirth, helping mothers to bear their children. Likewise the drawings, which could be obtained only with time and
philosopher, by not imposing anything but prompting thought effort in making them by hand, and in this case they would
with compelling and probing questions, guided his interlocutor be much less perfect. The art of engraving, which consists
to discover the truth. in multiplying, through reproduction, these figures traced
We know that the written culture became the dominant one and by nature itself, will derive new and important benefits from
despite the strenuous defence of orality it was precisely the this discovery.
Platonic dialogues that consecrated the Socratic doctrine and For the traveller, the archaeologist, the naturalist,
transmitted his ideas to posterity. Clearly the advent of writing Monsieur Daguerre’s apparatus will become an object of
as the dominant mode for the transmission of knowledge continuous and indispensable use. It will help them to take
opened up a range of possibilities and led to cognitive note of what they see, without resorting to anyone’s hands.
variations and modifications of important aspects of human life, In the future each author will be able to compose the
such as memory. geographical part of his work by stopping for a moment in
It was no longer necessary to remember thousands of verses front of the most complicated of monuments, or the
from epic poems, for example, since matter, as we have seen broadest view and in this way he will immediately obtain an
above, gave us the opportunity to record data and consult it exact facsimile of it.’
when needed. However, every radical change requires serious
reflection and deep study to grasp the opportunities it offers us Also in the same year, on August 19, Arago revealed the
and understand at the same time how our research methods may technique for making a daguerreotype, so officially consecrating
be influenced by it. Sometimes expectations are not met. There photography, to a joint meeting of the Academy of Sciences and
is often a tendency to repose great confidence in technical and that of the Fine Arts. On that occasion he explained what
scientific innovations, thinking that they can quickly solve all applications photography might have for Egyptology with great
the scientific issues and problems that have not yet been expectations:
answered (Vegetti, 2018).
In this respect, it is really interesting to observe how the ‘If we had had photography in 1798, today we would have
discovery of one of the most important technological reliable illustrations of what was taken from the scientific
innovations of the 19th century was announced. On 7 January community by the greed of the Arabs (sic) and the
1839, the scholar and politician François Jean Dominique vandalism of travellers. Only to copy the millions of
Arago explained in detail to the French Academy the invention hieroglyphics that cover the outer part of the monuments of
of Louis Mandé Daguerre, the daguerreotype, as ‘a method for Thebes, Memphis, Karnak and other places would take us
fixing the images that are painted by sun inside the camera decades and legions of draftsmen. Thanks to the
obscura’. Arago himself presented a bill to the Chamber of daguerreotype, a single person could successfully complete
Deputies in Paris on 15 June 1839. Re-reading part of the text this immense task. Let us therefore give two or three
we see how a whole series of possibilities is linked to this new specimens of Daguerre’s equipment at the Institut d’Egypte
and an unlimited number of hieroglyphics, as they are in
reality, will replace those that are now imagined or roughly
1
English translation from www.perseus.tufts.edu (retrieved in April reproduced’ (Arago, 1839).
2019).

This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

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 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019
GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

Figure 1. Virtual display of the structure and appearance of the external coffin of Butehamon (Twentieth Dynasty), from the
exhibition Archeologia Invisibile, Museo Egizio, Torino, 2019 (photograph by Museo Egizio, Torino).

It is certainly undeniable that photography has changed our We can reproduce a sarcophagus with sub-millimetric precision,
ability to represent the world and contributed to the recording all the phases of its production and reuse (figure 1).
dissemination of knowledge. After one hundred and eighty
years from its invention, however, we must note that the Non-invasive diagnostic imaging allows us to peer into a still-
documentation of the hieroglyphics that cover the monuments sealed vessel and virtually unwrap mummies (figures 2 and 3).
of ancient Egypt is by no means yet complete and, although Detailed analyses now give scholars the opportunity to observe
photography has proved to be a very important aid, the the fibres of a papyrus, facilitating the reconstruction of ancient
epigraphist’s work of drawing and interpretation continue to be documents.
fundamental. Digital communication also enables us to create virtual work
Today we find ourselves immersed in the so-called digital environments in which scholars from around the world can
revolution that has already profoundly transformed our work together and compare their data. All this facilitates and
cognitive approach and the way we work. In the archaeological accelerates the work of the philologist.
field, photogrammetry and 3D modelling enable archaeologists
to document the whole excavation process and to reconstruct So does this mean that the role of the humanist’s role is
contexts even after their removal. becoming subordinate?

This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-5-2019 | © Authors 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. 8
 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019
GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

rethinking the role that museums can have in the future we must
at the same time remember the main reason why they were
founded, namely to be the place where objects from the past
could be preserved. And, despite all the changes we have gone
through, it is undeniable that the core of the museum experience
is still that of being before artistic products, archaeological
documents or the records of social history.
The changes will continue. We will devise different
organisational and architectural solutions that will respond more
fully to contemporary needs. There will certainly also be new
forms of cultural consumption. Our task will always remain,
however, to improve the visual, aesthetic and intellectual
Figure 2. Virtual unwrapping of the mummy of Kha
experience of every visitor before an artefact from the past,
(Eighteenth Dynasty), from the exhibition Archeologia seeking to provide all the information necessary to enrich the
Invisibile, Museo Egizio, Torino, 2019 (photograph by Museo comprehension of it. The future of museums is, as it has always
Egizio, Torino). been, research.

Figure 3. Different types of animal mummies and virtual unwrapping of a cat mummy (cat. 2348/1), from the exhibition Archeologia
Invisibile, Museo Egizio, Torino, 2019 (photograph by Museo Egizio, Torino).

Quite the contrary. The data supplied to us is ever more detailed ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and complex and requires an even more profound level of
interpretation (Amselle, 2017). This text is the English translation of the essay ‘La biografia
The scientist and the humanist must increasingly work closely degli oggetti. Rivoluzione digitale e Umanesimo’, in AAVV,
together to try to unravel the complexity of the contemporary Archeologia Invisibile (catalogue of the exhibition ‘Archeologia
world. An ever more profound collaboration that goes beyond Invisibile’, Museo Egizio, Torino, 12 March 2019 - 6 January
the dogmatism of individual fields of knowledge, with the 2020). Panini, Modena, 14-20.
definition of a shared semantics and the development of a true
multidisciplinary approach are the only method we have to cope
with the challenges of the future (DeMarrais, Gosden, Renfrew, REFERENCES
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This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-5-2019 | © Authors 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. 9
 The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019
GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy

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This contribution has been peer-reviewed.

https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W11-5-2019 | © Authors 2019. CC BY 4.0 License. 10