Questioning the Copy: Squeezes as Subjective Interpretations in the Archaeological Record

Squeezes were once the preferred medium for documenting inscriptions in the field. Though they have recently been replaced by digital techniques, collections of paper squeezes continue to be used as sources for both teaching and research on ancient texts. The physical interaction with an inscription that is required to make a squeeze gives it an air of being an accurate copy, a direct imprint in paper of the engraved text. However, squeezes are far more complex than they let on. The squeeze itself can be cropped, divided or retouched, while the inscription itself is continuously transformed both physically and conceptually through its publication, display and restoration. This divergence in the two artefacts’ biographies calls our understanding of original and copy into question. Instead of treating squeezes as immediate likenesses of the originals, we should consider them as traces of the research process, indicative of archaeological responses to material and textual heritage. This paper will use examples from Musée L’s collection of early Christian squeezes made at the turn of the 20th century in Rome by Belgian archaeology and theology professor René Maere. By comparing the squeezes with their related inscriptions across Rome, and placing these comparisons within the context of archaeological developments at this time through the use of Maere’s archives, I will highlight the tension inherent in collections of epigraphic squeezes as both scientific records and subjective interpretations