Experimental Archaeology

Bone Pipes with Parallel Tone Holes. Materials from Medieval Poland (until the End of the 12th C)

Author(s)
Dorota Popławska 1 ✉,
Anita Kander-Marchewka 2,
Amelia Skibińska 3,
Piotr Zawadzki 3
Publication Date
Bone and wood pipes are among the medieval aerophones which have been discovered during archaeological excavations in Poland. The ones that interested us are characterized by a parallel arrangement of sound holes. They are short pipes, several centimetres long, with two holes cut in different places of the pipe body, either at one end or in the middle...

Early Medieval Bone Pipes: Understanding the Sounds of These Instruments through Reconstruction

Author(s)
Lucy-Anne Taylor 1
Publication Date

Introduction

Bone pipes dating from both the early and late medieval period have been found in the archaeological record from across central and Northern Europe such as in: The Netherlands (Tamboer, 2004), Denmark, Sweden (Lund, 1981a), Poland (Poplawska, 1998), Latvia (Urtan, 1970) and Estonia (Oras, 2015) (Tamboer and Rainio, 2020). One of the first comprehensive studies of these instruments as a whole is that by Brade, published in 1975.

An Experimental Study of Lesions Observed in Bog Body Funerary Performances

Author(s)
Tiffany Treadway 1 ✉,
Clement Twumasi 2
Publication Date
The analysis of sharp force trauma has usually been reserved for prehistoric osteological case studies. Bog bodies, on the other hand, due to the excellent preservation of the soft tissues, provide a unique example of visible lesions. This type of preservation of prehistoric soft tissue trauma that would otherwise be predominantly absent from osteological remains allows archaeologists to understand better the ...

More Testing of Mesoamerican Lunate Artifacts as Possible Loom Weights, that also Functioned as Twining Tools

Author(s)
Billie J. A. Follensbee 1
Publication Date

Review of the Research

Research conducted over the past century has conclusively demonstrated that textiles played an important role in Mesoamerica, particularly from the Classic period (AD 250-900) through contemporary cultures.

Archaeological Experiment on Reconstruction of the “Compound” Bow of the Sintashta Bronze Age Culture from the Stepnoe Cemetery

Author(s)
Ivan Semyan 1 ✉,
Spyros Bakas 2
Publication Date
#EAC12 World Tour 2021
***This article presents data from an international experimental study on the reconstruction of the “compound” bow of Sintashta culture of bronze age South Ural, Russia. The project is carried out by a collective of researchers from Greece and Russia as part of the grant program of EXARC - “Twinning program”...

Pyrgos Mavroraki Smelting and Melting Experiments in a Metallurgical Workshop of the Second Millennium BC

Author(s)
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno 1 ✉,
Livio Pontieri 1
Publication Date
Interpreting the cultural influences of Cyprus in antiquity has posed an issue, depending on one’s point of view or the different conclusions reached. Until the 1970s, in large part due to the extensive excavations along the northern coast of Cyprus, it seemed reasonable to recognise a plethora of Aegean traits in the island culture. Every element of the Cypriot Bronze Age was analysed and interpreted in...

Throwing Punic Amphorae: An Archaeological and Experimental Approach to the use of the Potter's Wheel in southern Iberia during the Iron Age

Author(s)
Antoni M. Sáez Romero 1 ✉,
Ricardo Belizón Aragón 1,
Pedro A. Albuquerque 1
Publication Date
The transport of food products in amphorae was a basic pillar for the maritime-oriented economies and sustenance supplies of the Phoenician and Punic communities of first millennium BC southern Iberia. Over the last few decades, numerous investigations have been carried out aimed at identifying the manufacturing sites of these amphorae, at defining both their typological and chronological aspects...

Killing the Cauldron: Experimental Research on Dented Bronze Cauldrons from the (post)Medieval Period

Author(s)
Vincent van Vilsteren 1
Publication Date
Bronze cauldrons from the late Middle Ages, and the 16th and 17th century are hardly ever discovered during archaeological excavations but are usually unearthed by detectorists having discovered the find of their life. Many of these vessels happen to be damaged. Sometimes one or two legs are lost, or a piece of the rim is missing, more often they exhibit one or more dents. We know that in prehistory the ritual...

Experimental Roman Minting: Casting Silver-Copper Alloys into a Bronze Mould

Author(s)
Nicola George 1
Publication Date
#EAC12 World Tour 2021
***This paper provides the details of a Roman minting experiment, which used a bronze mould to cast debased silver blanks typical of the third century A.D. The investigation follows the paper ''Experiments reproducing Roman debased alloys" (George, 2020) which studied the manufacturing methods used...

Standardized Reporting of Experimental Iron Smelting - A modest (?) Proposal

Author(s)
Darrell Markewitz 1
Publication Date

Background: The State of an Art?

Over the last three decades, bloomery iron smelting has moved from the largely theoretical to the practical. Although there were certainly earlier attempts via experimental process to build workable furnaces, most of these attempts were basically unsuccessful, at least in terms of actual iron production. Early researchers too often undertook (or at least only formally reported on) limited test series (one or two attempts) and many concentrated far too much on slag, not on the production of metallic iron itself.