The biography of the Lateran squeezes: The curation of archaeological knowledge through hands-on replication

ABSTRACT Replicas have the ability to communicate artistic, cultural and intellectual values outside their original context. They do this by physically establishing a canon for ordering and interpreting history. Epigraphical squeezes, as fragmentary impressions of sculpted or incised surfaces, are one example of such replicas, occupying a transitory space between source and copy. However, they are rarely studied within this framework, instead seen primarily as an aide for publication. To better understand how squeezes are implicated in our own processes of knowledge formation, this paper focuses on a single case study, the collection of early Christian squeezes held at Musée L. In mapping the biography of this collection, tracing its connection to the emergence of archaeology as a science based on interaction with material remains at the turn of the twentieth century, this case study will provide a rich model for how squeezes can act as sources for historiographical inquiry.