Bruno Latour in the garden of archaeological illustrations

Abstract

This essay explores a specific technique of illustration used by Mesoamerican archaeologists: the line drawing, and in particular the method of combining line drawings of details of larger artifacts together on a single page. The essay begins with Bruno Latour’s text on “Drawing things together”. Latour argues that much scientific practice is about “the transformation of rats and chemicals into paper”. Through representations, the objects of scientific study can be rearranged and combined in ways impossible with the actual objects depicted. Although these techniques radically simplify the objects being studied, their very simplicity makes them powerful instruments for interpreting the world. Line drawings of artifacts, and the creation of fields of fragmented details of drawings of artifacts, are a classic example of the techniques Latour explores. The second section of the essay then asks how it was that Mesoamericanists first began creating illustrations of fields of fragmented line drawings, and connects this to centuries-old traditions of natural history illustration. Finally, the third section turns to Mesoamerican methods of drawing things together, and asks what we learn, and what we lose, by using line drawings to study the Mesoamerican past.

Keywords
Mesoamerica; Archaeology; Illustration; Line drawings; Immutable mobiles; Natural history.