Cast aside or cast in a new light? The Maudslay replica Maya casts at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the use of replicas in museums and for other purposes such as teaching before the advent of digital technologies. Many different types of replica exist and each object and each category of replica has its own history which it is not possible to reproduce in a single book chapter. Instead, we have chosen to focus on a single case study, a group of plaster casts of Classical Maya monuments at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), University of Cambridge, where they have come to be known as the ‘Maudslay Casts’. Through this case study we will show how attitudes towards replicas in general – and these replicas in particular – have changed over time. We will conclude by questioning what future roles the casts might have in a digital world.