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Where do anthropology and archaeology meet? Do the study of humankind and the research of its material culture share a common approach? On what presuppositions do the disciplines rely? Where can the similarity of their methods be encountered? How did their conventions shape twentieth-century perspectives on the geographically and historically remote?   Both disciplines are born of a concept of distance which, at the same time as it establishes a limit for what they can comprehend, also assures that there is always enough space for a detached, unengaged, analytic gaze towards an other that exists in a distant past or distant place Such assumed detachment is fundamental to transforming fieldwork into theoretical analysis In order for such processes to take place, it’s necessary to find ways to reduce the whole into manageable samples Images, sounds, materials, notes are gathered and arranged in a single and unified physical area where they can be manipulated, enlarged, repeated, fragmented, combined: a table The table, this means of control and abstraction, might be the place where anthropology and archaeology meet Seated at the same table, professionals from both disciplines arrange the pieces in front of them as if they were playing a complex game whose rules have been defined over time   Francis Upritchard’s Traveller’s collection (2003) is a table with three shelves made of wood and marble, a depository and a display of objects of different natures, provenances, sizes, functions and shapes These colourful objects are carefully arranged: most of the smaller ones stand vertically while the larger items lie horizontally across the shelves This cabinet of curiosities is affiliated to the Renaissance-era Kunstkabinett, an encyclopaedic arrangement of objects without distinct disciplinary boundaries These pieces of furniture were often presented in chambers called Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer, in which objects relating to diverse aspects of biology, natural history, conchology, ethnography and archaeology, occultism, artistic expression, and geology were combined With their exuberant presentation of a variety of different items, the cabinets became a symbol of erudition and wealth, attesting to the elevated status of their owner while anticipating the space and function of