This annotation was created by Emilia Porubcin.
DAILY LIFE
Some items and their roles are utterly familiar, like tweezers and locks. Some are strangely analogous, like stone arrowheads or devotional figurines. Some, such as miniature ceramic food offerings and gilded death masks, realize fundamental distinctions between ancient worlds and our own. In creating this exhibit, curators—sometimes literally—looked into a mirror of the past, to see vanity, aspiration, and, most of all, themselves reflected in their interpretations.