Experimental Archaeology

‘Re-rolling’ a Mummy: an Experimental Spectacle at Manchester Museum

Author(s)
Lidija McKnight 1
Publication Date

Introduction

The unwrapping and dissection of mummified bodies was a common practice in 19th century Europe. These autopsies were conducted as part of scientific endeavours and social spectacles, motivated by a desire to advance the fields of science, medicine and archaeology, coupled with a sense of macabre fascination (Moshenska, 2014). The scientific capability required to study mummified remains non-invasively had yet to be developed, leading to the destruction of many hundreds of specimens. 

Some Remarks on Technological Process of Tartessian Pottery

Author(s)
Michał Krueger 1 ✉,
Marta Krueger 2,
Karol Jakubowski 2
Publication Date
This paper makes an attempt to examine the Tartessian ceramics not from a traditional typological posture seeking the chronological sequences, but from an uncommon approach, where experiment plays an important role. The goal is to shed light on these still relatively weakly recognised aspects of the study of the pottery from the South-western part of Iberian Peninsula...

The Mechanics of Splitting Wood and the Design of Neolithic Woodworking Tools

Author(s)
Roland Ennos 1 ✉,
J. A. Ventura Oliveira 1
Publication Date
Because of the anisotropy of wood, trunks and branches can be vulnerable to splitting along the grain, especially radially. This fact was widely exploited in pre-industrial times, when wood was mostly cut and shaped by splitting it along the grain while still green, rather than by sawing...

Now we’re Cooking with Gas! How Experimental Archaeology Challenges Modern Assumptions about Metal Recycling

Author(s)
E. Giovanna Fregni 1
Publication Date
It is accepted knowledge that when re-melting alloys, some of the metal with a lower melting temperature is lost through oxidation, and more metal must be added in order to maintain the desired alloy proportions. In order to understand the changes in alloy content when recycling using Bronze Age technology, experiments were undertaken by the author and others...

Experimental Archaeology as Participant Observation: A Perspective from Medieval Food

Author(s)
Scott D. Stull 1
Publication Date
10th EAC Leiden 2017
***Central to anthropology is the concept of participant observation, where a researcher engages in immersive learning through ethnographic fieldwork. This concept is also important for archaeologists as immersive learning provides an avenue for more robust interpretation and the development of...

Twenty Years with Flint. The Society for Experimental Prehistoric Archaeology – Where are We Now?

Author(s)
Grzegorz Osipowicz 1 ✉,
Justyna Kuriga 1
Publication Date
The Society of Experimental Prehistoric Archaeology (SEPA, www.keap.umk.pl) is an organisation affiliated with the Nicolaus Copernicus University’s Institute of Archaeology since 1998. The first academic supervisor of SEPA was Jolanta Małecka-Kukawka, now led by Grzegorz Osipowicz...

Research, Experimentation and Outreach in the Early Neolithic Site of La Draga (Banyoles-Spain)

Author(s)
Antoni Palomo 1 ✉,
Raquel Piqué 2,
Xavier Terradas 3,
Joan Anton Barceló 2,
Juan Antonio Rodríguez 3,
Montserrat Buch 4,
Jürgen Junkmanns 5,
Miriam de Diego 2,
Oriol López 2
Publication Date
The exceptional preservation of organic material in the early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, north-east Iberian Peninsula) has allowed lines of research that had rarely been undertaken in the region. The research project carried out at the site of La Draga involves experimental archaeology as a...

Sherd Shatter Patterns Experiment

Author(s)
S. Evans 1 ✉,
S. Barrera Hernandez 1
Publication Date
In field archaeology, the importance of non-diagnostic sherds is often overlooked. This archaeological experiment suggests that archaeologists should take into greater consideration, contexts where sherds are found grouped together in close proximity. The authors tested a series of experimental drops of modern pots...

The Colour Palette of Antique Bronzes: An Experimental Archaeology Project

Author(s)
Jonathan Devogelaere 1
Publication Date
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, with lead also added. Hellenistic and Roman bronze objects have a variable percentage of metals, and because of this the colour of the alloy will differ depending on the proportions. The colour of the alloy can be maintained by polishing, but it is also possible to give a patina to the surface of bronze using a reagent...