Experimental Archaeology

Experimental Archaeology is an approach for filling gaps in our knowledge about the past, which cannot be filled through other archaeological research methods. An archaeological experiment must always answer a specific research question through practically testing production, use and/or formation of material culture and/or archaeological features. In Experimental Archaeology, testing a hypothesis in direct reference to the archaeological record is the core activity. The information gained should be impossible to obtain from solely examining original artefacts. The practice of experimental archaeology is strongly connected to the other four legs of EXARC as growing craft experience as well as interpretation can also lead to research questions and experimental projects.

Moving Monoliths: Easter Island and Environmental Collapse

Author(s)

Maureen Folk ¹ ✉

Publication Date

2018-08-25

EXARC Journal Issue 2018/3

The Rapa Nui civilization once thrived on Easter Island, and produced unique statues which became a parable for collapse around the world (Hunt and Lipo, 2011). Several experiments have been conducted to better understand this collapse, specifically surrounding the movement of the islands’ largest inhabitants, the moai – the large monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people...

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Experimental Archaeometallurgy of Early-Middle Bronze Age Cyprus: Pilot Experiments of Copper Smelting at Pyrgos-Mavroraki

Author(s)

Marco Romeo-Pitone ¹ ✉

Publication Date

2018-08-25

EXARC Journal Issue 2018/3

10th EAC Leiden 2017
***Pyrgos-Mavroraki, an early 2nd millennium BC proto-industrial settlement, is an excellent case-study on which to apply experimental archaeometallurgy because it presents many different elements connected to the chaine-operatoire of copper metallurgy, typical of Early/Middle Bronze Age Cyprus...

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Re-Creating an Aboriginal Earth Oven with Clayey Heating Elements: Experimental Archaeology and Paleodietary Implications

Author(s)

Maurizio Campanelli ¹,

Jane Muir ²,

Alice Mora ³ ✉,

Daniel Ross Clarke ^1,4,

Darren Griffin ⁴

Publication Date

2018-05-22

EXARC Journal Issue 2018/2

Earth ovens may relate to different ancestral cooking techniques, serving specific needs and functions. In eastern and south-eastern Australia, they were a significant element of a thriving pre-colonial Aboriginal culture. However, today it is extremely rare to find such structures well preserved. Based on archaeological and historical records...

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Recommended Literature

COLES, J.M., 1979. Experimental Archaeology, London: Academic Press.

FERGUSON, J.R., 2010. Designing Experimental Research in Archaeology: Examining Technology through Production and Use, Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

HURCOMBE, L., CUNNINGHAM, P, 2016. The life cycle of structures in experimental archaeology: An object biography approach, Leiden: Sidestone Press.

INGERSOLL, D., YELLEN, J.E. & MACDONALD, W., 1977. Experimental archeology, New York: Columbia University Press.

KELTERBORN, P., 2005. Principles of Experimental Research in Archaeology, EuroREA, (Re)construction and Experiment in Archaeology – European Platform, 2, 120-122.

MALINA, J., 1983. Archaeology and Experiment, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 16:2, 69-85.

MATHIEU, J., 2002. Introduction - Experimental Archaeology - Replicating Past Objects, Behaviors, and Processes, Mathieu, J. (ed.) Experimental Archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes, BAR International Series 1035, 1-12.

OUTRAM, A.K., 2008. Introduction to Experimental Archaeology, World Archaeology 40:1, 1-7