Experimental Archaeology

Experimental archaeology plays an important role in research and teaching at Reading University. Staff with particular involvement in experimental archaeology at Reading are Prof. Martin Bell and Dr Rob Hosfield, but experimental research also features in the projects of many other staff (e.g. Prof. Steven Mithen & Dr Wendy Matthews), and spans all archaeological periods.

Cardiff University – Experimental & Experiential Archaeology Team

Dr Derek Pitman is an archaeologist who studies production and resource use. His research involves a combination of field archaeology, laboratory analysis and experimental reconstruction. 

Anthropology at Connecticut College

Faculty members of the Department of Anthropology have widely differing research interests in the study of the human condition, but all share a common bond in their commitment to teaching, field-based learning, and contributing new knowledge to their field. Their respective areas of scholarship span the major fields of the discipline, including archaeological, cultural, and linguistic anthropology.

Archaeology at CCU

The Department of Anthropology and Geography at Coastal Carolina University brings together diverse faculty to study the intersections between cultural and physical worlds. We work in archaeology, Geographic Information Systems, geography, cultural anthropology, museums, and environmental science. Our research takes us into the field, in the South Carolina Lowcountry and worldwide, where we examine lives, lifeways, and environments of the past and present.

All stone tools are manufactured by a skilled knapper who is a member of TraceoLab. The group is involved in a lot of methodological work, in relation to use-wear, residues and taphonomy, while also specific themes are addressed, such as hafting and projectiles. The lab houses specific equipment for experimentation, in particular for projectiles, next to specialized analytical equipment.

Since forming, the group has explored prehistoric and historical ethnographic knapping techniques, prehistoric bone and antler working, organic cordage from a range of plant fibre sources and willow work, including basketry and fish traps.
These sessions provide us as archaeologists with a new understanding of certain aspects of material culture, including time, skill, knowledge, effort and sensorial experience, all of which expand our understanding of the past.

Dr Chloe Duckworth has experience with among others Roman and medieval glass. She teaches for example the module “you are what you make”. This module explores - and helps you to learn - the skills and techniques humans have used for millennia to control, manipulate, and construct the world around us. 

Experimental archaeology uses a hypothetical-deductive method of checking and evaluating archaeological information. In the process of checking the sources, practical historical reconstructions are carried out for each individual chronological and territorial complex of archaeological sites.