Ancient Technology

Reconstructing the Pyrotechnological Development of the Harappans Using Ethnoarchaeological Parallels in The Region of Ghaggar, India

Author(s)
Garima Singh 1
Publication Date
Indus Valley Civilization flourished in India and Pakistan owing to its technological advancements dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. The present paper aims to trace the emergence of pyrotechnology through documenting the industrial settlements that have been excavated in recent years, as well as locating the potential trading network for the craft items being produced at these small settlements on...

“Look at the Bones!” - Adding Bone in a Bloomery Iron Smelt

Author(s)
Darrell Markewitz 1
Publication Date
A case study of a practical experimental test. Through 2019, much was made in the popular press suggesting that during the Viking Age, exhumed human bone had been used in the chain of production from iron ore through to finished swords. Contradicting this, considerable experience with small scale direct reduction process bloomery iron smelting furnaces indicated that at least while creating the iron itself...

Testing Roman Glass in the Flame

Author(s)
Sue Heaser 1
Publication Date
- The working properties of glass used in Early Medieval England - Glass made during the Romano British period was recycled throughout the Late Roman and Early Medieval periods. Studies have shown that British beadmakers of the fifth and early sixth centuries AD made a large proportion of their beads using Roman period glass (Peake, 2013)...

Garum Sardiniae in Tabula: Rediscovering the Ancient Taste of Roman Cuisine

Author(s)
Riccardo Grasso 1 ✉,
Tania Piga 2,
Alessio Gorga 3,
Manuel Mainetti 4
Publication Date
The historiography concerning the Garum, as well as the archaeological evidence of the same, are very wide and cover the entire topic both from the historical and archaeological points of view. Can a team of archaeologists faithfully recreate Garum today, starting only with the historical knowledge available to us, and at the same time ...

Scandinavian Arrowheads of the Viking Age, Their Manufacture and Distribution

Author(s)
Hector Cole 1
Publication Date
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the arrowheads used in the Viking Age and their distribution. The 187 excavation of Viking graves in the Black Earth of Birka region of Sweden, re-examined in 2019 by Price (Price, et al., 2019) and the finding of arrows and arrowheads where glaciers have melted in Norway, prompted my research into the forging techniques of specific arrowheads from these...

Experimental Weaving and Twining with Ceramic Crescents from the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic in Southwestern Iberia

Author(s)
Victoria Priola1
Publication Date
Ceramic crescents are a common find at Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in southwestern Iberia (late fourth – third millennium BC). These objects, which often weigh less than 100 g and are perforated on each end, are typically referred to as loom weights and thought to be associated with textile production, although their function remains uncertain...

Anglo-Saxon Beads: Redefining The “Traffic Lights”

Author(s)
Sue Heaser 1
Publication Date
Many thousands of glass beads have been excavated from Early British cemeteries of the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Amongst these beads is a type that was particularly common: decorated polychrome beads in red, yellow, and green glass in a variety of styles and combinations. Birte Brugmann, in her 2004 analysis of Saxon-period glass beads (Brugmann, 2004), named these beads “Traffic Light” (TL) beads...

“Cuts Stones of all Sorts, In the Best Manner…”: Experiments in 18th Century lapidary work in America

Author(s)
E. Giovanna Fregni 1
Publication Date
Unusual or rare gems have been valued for as long as there have been humans to appreciate them. The making of beads and ornaments provides some of the earliest examples of the manipulation of materials solely for aesthetic reasons. Throughout history, we have refined the processes and constructed dedicated machinery to further enhance the desirable qualities of certain stones. The gems themselves...