Renaissance and early modern antiquarians, such as the baroque polymath Athenaeus Kircher, the figure with which this eloquent book opens, would today be deemed highly interdisciplinary in their approaches. They studied texts, including manuscripts, printed books, and inscriptions. They scrutinized images as well as all kinds of objects from carvings to altarpieces. They examined bones, skulls, and other human remains, and investigated ancient buildings, both intact and ruined. They carried out excavations and experiments. Early antiquarianism was “not a profession but a pursuit” that required knowledge and practices from multiple disciplines (11).
This book investigates antiquarian exploration through a series of case studies, most from around 1500. Each begins with digging into the ground or opening a concealed container. These near-contemporary but sometimes geographically distant studies allow consideration of the techniques, practices, and assumptions of early modern antiquarians. Schwab and Grafton cogently argue the interconnectedness of the study of secular...