The Tiny and the Fragmented
Miniature and fragmentary objects are both remarkably fascinating and easily dismissed. Tiny scale entices users with visions of Lilliputian worlds. The ambiguity of fragments intrigues us, offering vivid reminders of the transitory nature of reality. Yet, the standard scholarly approach to such objects has been to see them as secondary, incomplete things, designed primarily to refer to a complete and often life-sized whole. This volume offers a series of fresh perspectives on the familiar concepts of the tiny and the fragmented, in chapters ranging in focus from Neolithic Europe to Pre-Columbian Honduras to the Classical Mediterranean and Ancient Near East. Diverse in scope, the volume is united in considering the little and broken things of the past as objects in their own right. When a life-sized or whole thing is made in a scaled-down or partial form, deliberately broken as part of its use, or considered successful by ancient users only if it shows some signs of wear, it challenges our expectations of representation and wholeness. Overall, this volume demands a reconsideration of the social and contextual nature of miniaturization, fragmentation, and incompleteness. These were more than just ancient strategies for saving space, time, and resources. Rather, they offered new possibilities of representation, use, and engagement—possibilities unavailable with things that were life size or more conventionally “complete.” It was because of, rather than in spite of, their small or partial state that these objects were valued parts of the personal and social worlds they inhabited.