Developing the idea of an ‘object biography’, as defined by Kopytoff (1986), this thesis challenges a fixed, static concept of antiquities and their present meanings by focusing on the routes they travel through space and time as they circulate through the hands of unauthorised finders, dealers and collectors. The research has been carried out in India, focusing on the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As a non-Western country with a period of colonial history, India is an ideal location to explore not just the diversity and mutability of these meanings but also the tensions between authorized and divergent viewpoints regarding the value and management of the past. My methodology has drawn on theoretical models from the social sciences that approach the production of meaning in and through material culture as an organic and on-going process of human-object relations. Through a process of qualitative surveying using purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews, two distinct object case studies have been devised and investigated: the circulation of structural and household antiques from the 19th and 20th century houses of the Nagarathar Chettiars, and the excavation of coins, beads, jewellery and figurines in the riverbeds of Tamil Nadu and their subsequent sale, collection and circulation. In the course of fieldwork I have recorded over 55 hours of interactions with 107 respondents in locations across Tamil Nadu, as well as Bangalore, Mumbai, Jodhpur and London. I have supported this data with photographs, fieldnotes, and internet sources. In my analysis of this data I have argued that many people in Tamil Nadu and South India feel a sense of distance and alienation from the world of ‘heritage’ as defined and managed by the government, while at the same time people are engaged in their own processes of meaning-making through the old objects they engage with and circulate on a daily basis. The objects studied in this thesis are not seen as pertaining to the ‘sleeping’ realm of antiquities and authorized heritage, but to the ‘waking’ realm of active circulation, use and transformation. Furthermore, in the variety of ways that people engage with and transform these objects we can see the negotiation of relationships with the past and identities in the present at a time of rapid social and economic change in India.

Weapons of the late Shang (c.1200-1050 B.C.), characterised by their frequent discovery and various forms and materials, have often been dogmatically deciphered as either symbolic signifiers or representing military equipment. Adopting an object biographical approach, the main objective of this thesis is to employ the corpus of weapons to explore the martial facet of Shang society. Multiple strands of evidence have been compiled for the investigation: two datasets composed of over 200 complete tombs with their assemblages from the Anyang site of the late Shang, finds from non-burial contexts, the British Museum bronze weaponry collection, and contemporaneous texts. Using for the first time both statistical tools and metalwork wear analysis, this thesis challenges our understanding of the weapons of the Shang from their classification in archaeological reports to their functions and roles in society. The diverse types and materials of weapons and their multifaceted functions also shed light on interactions between objects and human beings.

Trefoil brooches are one of the most abundant types of Viking Age jewellery in Scandinavia. This thesis delves into the journey of one such brooch, known as 555783, discovered in Birka, Sweden. Through an archaeological object biography approach this thesis examines the brooch's construction, provenance, transportation, transformation, and deposition in an attempt to shed light on how this and other similar examples evolved in Scandinavian society compared to their cultural origins. Furthermore, this research aims to uncover broader patterns in the Viking Age Scandinavian society's contact with and adaptation of foreign material culture through the incorporation of comparative examples, in order to explore what this illustrates about the Scandinavian people in general. The conclusion reached is that 555783 was likely made in Frankia then transported to Scandinavia through unknown means. There it was modified from a mount on a sword belt with male, martial associations into a piece of fastening-jewellery associated with female costume and display. It was also determined that the adoption and adaption of foreign material culture was primarily a way of displaying foreign connections in a way better suited to their own aesthetic and material preferences. / En av de mest rikligt förekommande smyckestyperna från vikingatiden i Skandinavien är treflikiga spännen. Den här uppsatsen undersöker livshistorien av ett treflikigt spänne (555783) som upptäcktes i Birka. Genom ett arkeologiskt objektbiografiskt tillvägagångssätt undersöker denna uppsats spännet konstruktion, ursprung, förflyttning, förändring och deposition. Undersökningen illustrerar hur spänne 555783 och liknande exempel utvecklades i det skandinaviska samhället jämfört med i sin ursprungskultur. Vidare syftar denna uppsats till att belysa ett bredare mönster i vikingatida skandinavers kontakt med och anpassning av främmande materiell kultur. Uppsatsen besvarar detta genom jämförelse med andra liknande exempel. Slutsatsen ernådd är att spänne 555783 troligen har tillverkats i det Frankiska riket och sedan transporterats till Skandinavien på ett okänt sätt. Där modifierades den från ett beslag på ett svärdsbälte med manliga, krigiska associationer till ett smycke förknippat med kvinnlig uppvisning av status. Det fastställdes också att inlemmandet och modifieringen av främmande materiell kultur i första hand var ett sätt att visa utländska kopplingar som var anpassat till deras egna estetiska och materiella preferenser.

In the second half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century the collecting of objects from colonized countries and their subsequent display in western museums was widespread throughout Western Europe. How and why these collections were made, the processes of collection, and by whom, has only recently begun to be addressed. This thesis is an exploration of the ethnographic collection of Gertrude Emily Benham (1867-1938) who made eight voyages independently around the world from 1904 until 1938, during which time she amassed a collection of approximately eight hundred objects, which she donated to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery in 1935. It considers how and why she formed her collection and how, as a an amateur and marginalised collector, she can be located within discourses on ethnographic collecting. The thesis is organised by geographical regions in order to address the different contact zones of colonialism as well as to contextualise Benham within the cultural milieu in which she collected and the global collection of objects that she collected. An interdisciplinary perspective was employed to create a dialogue between anthropology, geography, museology, postcolonial and feminist theory to address the complex issues of colonial collecting. Benham is located within a range of intersecting histories: colonialism, travel, collecting, and gender. This study is the first in-depth examination of Benham as a collector and adds to the knowledge and understanding of Benham and her collection in Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. It contributes to the discourse on ethnographic collectors and collecting and in doing so it acknowledges the agency and contribution of marginal collectors to resituate them as a central and intrinsic component in the formation of the ethnographic museum. In addition, and central to this, is the agency and role of indigenous people in forming ethnographic collections. The thesis offers a foundation for further research into women ethnographic collectors and a more nuanced and inclusive account of ethnographic collecting.

It is now widely assumed that many artefacts found in the prehistoric archaeological record were not casually discarded as unwanted material but were deposited in features and contexts with structure and meaning. This appears to include saddle and rotary querns for they are often found whole and apparently still usable or, conversely, deliberately broken. Analysis of the structured deposition of querns in the south-west of England shows that they were deposited in features on both domestic and non-domestic sites. Furthermore, the location and state of the querns, together with the artefacts found in association with them, indicates that they were deposited with different levels and layers of meaning, even within the same type of feature. The deposition of querns appears to have pervaded all aspects of prehistoric life and death suggesting that they played a role above, but nevertheless related to, their prime task of milling. An exploration of the object biography of querns demonstrates the importance of what are often considered to be mundane tools to subsistence communities. Each quern has its own unique life history, its meaning and value determined by the reasons that gave cause for its manufacture, the material from which it was made, the use(s) to which it was put and who used it. However, all querns share points of commonality, related to their function as milling tools, their role as transformers of raw material(s) into usable products (s), their association with women and the production of food, and the movement of the upper stone. Through these, symbolical links can be made between querns and agricultural, human and building life cycles, gender relations and the turning of the heavens. The reason for a quern’s deposition in the archaeological record may have drawn upon one or more unique or common values.

In 1921, the Canadian government confiscated over 400 pieces of Kwakwaka’wakw potlatch regalia and placed it in three large museums. In 1967 the Kwakwaka'wakw initiated a long process of repatriation resulting in the majority of the collection returning to two Kwakwaka’wakw cultural centres over the last four decades. Through the theoretical framework of object biography and using the museum register as a tool to reconstruct the lives of the potlatch regalia, this thesis explores the multiple paths, diversions and oscillations between objecthood and subjecthood that the collection has undergone. This thesis constructs an exhibition history for the regalia, examines processes of institutional forgetting, and adds multiple layers of meaning to the collection's biography by attending to the post-repatriation life of the objects. By revisiting this pivotal Canadian case, diversions are emphasized as important moments in the creation of subjecthood and objecthood for museum objects.

In 1921, the Canadian government confiscated over 400 pieces of Kwakwaka’wakw potlatch regalia and placed it in three large museums. In 1967 the Kwakwaka'wakw initiated a long process of repatriation resulting in the majority of the collection returning to two Kwakwaka’wakw cultural centres over the last four decades. Through the theoretical framework of object biography and using the museum register as a tool to reconstruct the lives of the potlatch regalia, this thesis explores the multiple paths, diversions and oscillations between objecthood and subjecthood that the collection has undergone. This thesis constructs an exhibition history for the regalia, examines processes of institutional forgetting, and adds multiple layers of meaning to the collection's biography by attending to the post-repatriation life of the objects. By revisiting this pivotal Canadian case, diversions are emphasized as important moments in the creation of subjecthood and objecthood for museum objects.

This study has aimed to understand Suggan and Galten as its history and story has changed through time. To achieve this a biography perspective are applied. Suggan and Galten is war trophies taken from Russians during the Livonian war (1558-1583) and now presented at Gripsholm castle. Apart from understanding their history this study is going to discuss Suggan and Galtens role as war trophies, furthermore how they relate to society both now and then. But also, how they are viewed upon as cultural heritage.  This thesis has been based on a litterature study with supplementary illustrations to put Suggan and Galten in a larger context. In the litterature study an object biographical perspective has been obtained to be able to study the entire life story. Materiality and agency have also been used to explain human relationships to the cannons and to try to clarify peoples actions around them. The object biographical perspective has verified several aspects of Suggan and Galtens life journey. With the help of the theoretical starting point, the development of the cannons from Äldre Vasatiden to the present day has partly been accounted for. The study describes how Suggan and Galten were casted in Moscow by casting master Andrei Chekhov. How they were used by the Russian army in the Livonian war. Then taken over by the Swedes and shipped to Sweden. Once on Swedish soil, they participated in a trophy parade and then became cultural heritages at Gripsholm castle. War trophies refer to an object taken during conquest, which Suggan and Galten were. Furthermore, they have been used as war trophies in parades to demonstrate the power of the royal family. It was also during this time that the cannons began to develop into a cultural heritage. Only when the cannons were placed at Gripsholm castle where they considered as cultural heritage. / Studien har undersökt Suggan och Galtens livshistoria från tillverkningen i Ryssland till utställningen på Gripsholms slott. Syftet och frågeställningarna har varit att förstå och tydliggöra Suggan och Galtens utveckling genom tid och rum. Samt att redogöra för kanonerna som krigstroféer och varför dem blivit det. Slutligen har kulturarvsfrågan diskuterats utifrån objekten och hur de har speglats i samhället både då och nu.  Uppsatsen har baserats på en litteraturstudie med kompletterande bildmaterial för att sätta Suggan och Galten i ett större sammanhang. I litteraturstudien har ett objektbiografiskt perspektiv erhållits för att kunna studera hela livshistorien. Materialitet och agens har också använts för att förklara människans relation till kanonerna och för att försöka klarlägga personers handlingar kring dem. Det objektbiografiska perspektivet har verifierat flera aspketer av Suggan och Galtens livsresa. Med hjälp av den teoretiska utgångspunkten har kanonernas utveckling från Äldre Vasatiden fram till idag delvis kunnat redogöras för. Studien redogör för hur Suggan och Galten gjöts i Moskva av gjutmästare Andrej Chokhov. Hur de användes av den ryska armén i livländska kriget för att sedan övertas av svenskarna och skeppas till Sverige. Väl på svensk mark deltog de i troféparaden för att sedan bli ett kulturarv på Gripsholms slott.  Krigstroféer syftar på föremål som tagits under erövring vilket Suggan och Galten gjordes. Vidare har de som krigstroféer använts i triumfparader i syfte till att påvisa kungafamiljens makt. Det var även under den här tiden som kanonerna började utvecklas till ett kulturarv. Först när kanonerna placerades på Gripsholms slott ansågs de som fulländade kulturarv.

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This thesis investigates a part of the material culture of higher education through an object biographical case study of Félix Thibert’s moulages. The object biography operates with a diachronic perspective that offers an object-centered historiography of university collections, revealing that the need for collecting and imaging in science consistently remains, even though the role and significance of pathological moulages in research and education have changed over time. The moulages are epistemic things as described by Hans-Jörg Rheinberger. They embody what we do not yet know and they become marginalized when no one expects them to generate new discoveries. Their ontology and function are dependent on the dominating epistemic culture. John V. Pickstone outlines three ways of knowing, which gradually have dominated since the Renaissance: natural history, analysis and experiment. Thibert’s moulages are clearly anchored in analysis as a way of knowing for which the museum is an important arena. The findings of this thesis show that university museums and their collections were of immense importance for the production of knowledge during the 19th century, while today they often fall short of their knowledge-generating potential. There are nevertheless methods that can help them reach their full potential, among them a displaying method proposed by Karin Tybjerg considered in this thesis and the object biography of which this thesis consists. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies.