Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives

Abstract The World Archaeology volume ‘The Cultural Biography of Objects’ (Marshall and Gosden 1999 Marshall, Y. and Gosden, C. 1999. The cultural biography of objects. World Archaeology, 31(2): 169–320. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) retains its currency ten years after its publication and the ideas highlighted in it continue to be developed. However, the relative success of biographical studies which rely on anthropological or historical information compared with biographical studies of prehistoric objects is evident. Through the example of a British Iron Age mirror this paper explores ways of redressing the difficulties of applying a biographical approach to prehistoric objects.