"The Himalyas and the Great Sediment Sorting Machine": This talk draws attention to a set of digital and handmade instruments that Anthony Acciavatti designed and constructed to develop a new way of imaging and historicizing the dynamism of the Himalayas. Using a digital camera, packaging tape, tube socks, GPS unit, PVC pipes, and the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop, these instruments and prosthetics allow the user to collect and analyze sediment and silt distributed by one of Earth’s greatest sediment sorting machines. In particular, the presentation foregrounds how and why using the wrong thing for the right purpose allows a scholar to conduct an ethnographic survey of soils and silt to narrate the choreography of the monsoons and the Himalayas. With billions of tons of silt shed annually from the Himalayas across much of South Asia and Southeast Asia, the sorting and distribution of this material shapes agriculture and groundwater resources as well as dwelling and construction practices.