The Orphans of the Muse. Archaeological Collecting in Nineteenth-Century Oaxaca
The rediscovery, starting in the late eighteenth century, of Oaxaca’s magnificent pre-Hispanic tombs and artifacts –many associated with the ancient Zapotec or Mixtec civilizations of southwestern Mexico– gave rise to vigorous debates about their origins and significance. Spearheading this renewed interest in the past was a group of Mexican collectors, affluent members of the state’s local elite who, through exploration and systematic collection-forming, laid the foundation for a better understanding of the chaotic material culture that seemed to be everywhere underneath their native soil.
The history of these early collectors illustrates a remarkable moment in archaeological discovery, as concepts and typologies that are now familiar were first taking shape, but unfortunately many of the sites they explored were later obliterated as population growth and agricultural development overrode other concerns.
Objects were dispersed, and the records of the debates they had inspired languished in obscure publications and archives. The aim of this book is to reunite the orphaned, decontextualized remnants of this early burst of proto-scientific inquiry, not merely to profit from the discoveries of some truly remarkable pioneers but also to honor these unjustly forgotten figures. Their story is part of a larger human narrative, the ongoing effort to extend and accommodate systems of knowledge and classification to the material of past lives, an occasionally uneven process of discovery and interpretation that is now at the heart of the discipline of archaeology.
