Experimental Archaeology

LAPEEX - New Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology in Brazil

Submitted by EXARC on

The Laboratory for Evolutionary and Experimental Archaeology and Prehistory (LAPEEX - Laboratório de Arqueologia e Pré-História Evolutiva e Experimental), headed by EXARC Member Prof. Dr. João Carlos Moreno de Sousa, is the newest laboratory for experimental archaeology in Brazil. LAPEEX integrates the Institute of Humanities and Information at the Federal University of Rio Grande,  located in Rio Grande city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil.

Examining the Physical Signatures of Pre-Electric Tattooing Tools and Techniques

Author(s)
Aaron Deter-Wolf 1 ✉,
Danny Riday 2,
Maya Sialuk Jacobsen 3
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/3
This paper presents the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. Our project used eight tools fashioned from animal bone, obsidian, copper, and boar tusk, along with a modern steel needle, to create tattoos on the leg of co-author Danny Riday...

Pit Preserve from Ida – on the Problem of Charred Seeds from Prehistoric Pits

Author(s)
Lutz Zwiebel 1 ✉
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/3

Introduction

A wild seed propagator and gardener (such as myself) relies on years of close human-plant interaction. The adaptability of domesticated and many wild plants to human economy and behaviour has always thrilled me. When I first read archaeological reports of frequent and large amounts of prehistoric charred seeds that were dumped in the ground I was bemused. It contrasted starkly with the care and sensitivity I use in the processes of seed harvest, drying and selection. So I started reading more and also charring seeds myself.

The Arrow Quiver of the Iceman Reconstruction Attempts and the Special Significance of the Fur Material

Author(s)
Markus Klek 1 ✉
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/3
In 1991, the sensational discovery of a male mummy, thawing from the ice, was made on the Tisenjoch in the Ötztal Alps, near the Austrian-Italian border. The deceased man lived about 5300 years ago at the end of the Neolithic Age and is commonly known as Ötzi in German-speaking countries. The site also contained many well-preserved accompanying items and equipment...

Scored Basins from Late Minoan Crete: an Experimental Interpretation from Construction to Functionality

Author(s)
Brianna Jenkins 1 ✉
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/2
During the Bronze Age in Crete, agriculture, pottery production, metallurgy, textiles, architectural feats, trade, and other specializations flourished. Throughout habitation on Crete, pottery production was an area of craftsmanship and practicality from the end of the Neolithic to Mycenean and Iron Age. This experiment, however, relates to the Late Minoan I period in the geographical region of Mochlos...

Experimental Archaeology of Iron Age Firing Structures from the Western Mediterranean

Author(s)
Maria-Carme Belarte 1,2 ✉,
María Pastor Quiles 2,3,
Marta Portillo 4,5,
Carme Saorin 6,7,
Marta Mateu Sagués 2,
Alessandra Pecci 8,9,
Sílvia Vila 10,11,
Josep Pou 12,
Georgina Castells 12,
Jordi Morer 13,
Joaquín Fernández 14,
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/2

The TRANSCOMB project

This research project, which started in 2020 and is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, is led by the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) and counts on the participation of about 20 researchers from different institutions. The project aims to analyse Iron Age combustion structures in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, the South of France, and the Balearic Islands (See Figure 1). The main aim is to obtain data about the functioning and efficiency of these structures during a range of domestic activities.

(Re)constructing an Early Medieval Irish Ard

Author(s)
Brendan O`Neill 1,
Claus Kropp 2 ✉,
Frank Trommer 2,
Vanessa Töngi 2
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/2
This article outlines the results of an EXARC funded 2019 Twinning project exploring the production and use of an Irish early medieval ard. In this, the project partners researched the evidence for early ploughs and ards, made bloomery iron, produced an ard share, and worked wood to form the frame of the ard. This paper also includes...

An Experimental Approach to Assessing the Tempering and Firing of Local Pottery Production in Nubia during the New Kingdom Period

Author(s)
Julia Budka 1 ✉,
Giulia D’Ercole 1
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/2

Introduction

Ceramologists usually apply the term style to describe the set of visual (i.e., decorative and morphometric) attributes of a ceramic object (see, e.g., Rice, 2015, pp. 388-410). The term fabric is mainly employed in petrographic and technological studies to indicate the physical characteristics of the material (i.e., clay paste composition) a pot is made from ( Nordström and Bourriau, 1993, p. 162).

Pilot fires: Preliminary Report from Interdisciplinary Actualistic Fire Experiments

Author(s)
Silje Evjenth Bentsen 1,2,3 ✉,
Magnus Haaland 3,4,
Jovana Milic 3,,
Turid Hillestad Nel 3,,
Ole F. Unhammer 3,,
Elizabeth Velliky 3,
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/1
Hearth formation processes are complex. They involve multiple actions, reactions, and activities before, during, and after an active fire and can also impact a wide range of materials and sediments at an archaeological site. Archaeologists approach combustion features and formation processes from multiple analytical perspectives...

Different Types of Needles for Specific Uses? Experimental Reproductions of some Finds from Aradetis Orgora, Georgia

Author(s)
Sara Maria Stellacci 1 ✉
Publication Date
EXARC Journal Issue 2022/1

Introduction

This research aimed to define the use of some specific, pointed tools found in the Bronze Age levels of the site of Aradetis Orgora in the Shida Kartli province of Eastern Georgia (Caucasus) (See Figure 1). Five “needles” with different morphological features were unearthed at the site during the recent excavations carried out by the joint GISKAP project of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with the Georgian National Museum (Tbilisi) (Gagoshidze, 2001; 2012; Gagoshidze and Rova, 2015; 2018a; 2018b).