Worlds in Miniature: Contemplating Miniaturisation in Global Material Culture

Miniatures – small objects that resemble larger ones in some form – are ubiquitous, produced and distributed by societies across almost every part of the world. Examples can be found in archaeological examinations of communities as far back as the earliest of human artistic cultures, and ethnographic assemblages worldwide. We find, and have found, them alluring, enticing and exciting. We are inevitably drawn by their haptic appeal, for there is an intrinsic desire to play with these tiny objects, to manipulate and rearrange them and to imagine ourselves, impossibly, inside or alongside them.