Experimental Archaeology

Università di Trento (IT)

Member of EXARC
No

In 2018, the Italian Ministry for Education and University awarded the Department of Humanities of the University of Trento as one of the few excellence centres in Italy in the domain of the scientific research area 10 (Antiquities, Philological-literary and Historical-artistic sciences). Received grants allowed to give life to the CeASHum - Center of Advanced Studies in the Humanities which is structured in a PhD School of Studies and five Research Laboratories.

The LaBAAF - “Bagolini” Laboratory: Archaeology, Archaeometry, Photography is one of these five CeASHum laboratories; the mission is to promote advanced prehistoric, classical, and medieval archaeological research. Its special interests are oriented to develop studies in methodological aspects, land use and resources management, and formation processes.

Università di Ferrara (IT)

Member of EXARC
No

Experimental activity represents one of the most relevant research tools involved when reconstructing technical traditions. As a research group working on hunter-gatherers societies at the University of Ferrara, our experimental activity is mostly focused on the technical aspects related to stone and colouring materials (goethite and hematite) exploitation in the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. 

Regarding lithic technology our interest concerns the reconstruction of chaîne opératoires, from raw material selection to manufacturing techniques (i.e. both retouch and knapping techniques) and methods and from use to discard patterns. On the other hand, ochre manipulation is analysed through experimental sessions with the objective to test processing techniques and identifying gestures and conceptual schemes applied by human groups during the mechanical and chemical treatments of such minerals. 

Grinnell College (US)

Member of EXARC
No

Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, founded in 1846. Grinnell is known for its rigorous academics, innovative pedagogy, and commitment to social justice. The student body is approximately 1500 undergraduates.

Department of Anthropology
Grinnell College has a strong anthropology department for a small college, with faculty representing the traditional four fields of American anthropology and offering courses in socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and biological anthropology.
Grinnell’s anthropology major prepares students for graduate school as well as careers domestically and internationally in such fields as museology, regional planning, journalism, business, social services, and more. 

Nicolaus Copernicus University (PL)

Member of EXARC
No

The Institute of Archaeology, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is one of the oldest research centres in Poland dealing with experimental archaeology. The first studies of this type realised by our researchers were published in the 1970s.

Since then, experimental archaeology took an important place in different types of scientific projects carried out at our Institute, associated with, for example, medieval metallurgy or textiles. However, we place a special emphasis on the use of the experimental methods in research on prehistory, particularly, the Stone Ages. Most of the work realised of this type is aimed at the creation of experimental tools that we use as a comparative material during traceological analysis of the prehistoric artefacts. 

American University in Cairo (EG)

Member of EXARC
No

Salima Ikram is a Distinguished University Professor of Egyptology at The American University in Cairo and has worked as an archaeologist in Turkey, Sudan, Greece and the United States. 

She holds a MPhil in Museology and Egyptian archaeology and a PhD in Egyptian archaeology from Cambridge University. She has participated in several archaeological missions and has directed the Animal Mummy Project, the North Kharga Darb Ain Amur Survey, as well as the Amenmesse Mission of KV10 and KV63 in the Valley of the Kings. Her research interests are vast, spanning from archaeozoology and funerary archaeology to rock art, ethnoarchaeology and museology.

Western Carolina University (US)

Member of EXARC
No

Western Carolina University has a combined Anthropology and Sociology department, with 10 full-time anthropologists on faculty. The program offers undergraduate concentrations in Sociocultural Anthropology and Linguistics, Archaeology, and Forensic and Biological Anthropology.

Experimental Archaeology is offered every 4th semester (odd-numbered years) and has historically focused on questions arising from archaeological research in the southern Appalachians and often focuses on aspects of Cherokee prehistory. Projects have focused on a wide range of technologies, including bone, chipped stone, ground stone, rivercane, ceramics and local clay processing, and cooking.

Università di Bologna (IT)

Member of EXARC
No

The Laboratory of Experimental Archaeology at the University of Bologna  is based at the Bronze Age site of Solarolo (Ravenna), where excavations have been carried out since 2006. The laboratory was settled in 2011 to train students in the analysis and interpretation of stratigraphic processes and in the understanding of prehistoric technologies.  Activities include the participation of different expertise, from archaeologists to archeotechnicians, from ethnoarchaeologists to experts in archaeometry, which share their skills and knowledge with students...

Concerning the methodology, research questions are formulated starting from the analysis of  finds from different chronological contexts, from prehistory to Middle Ages. Recently most of the attention has been devoted to the archaeological site of Solarolo in the wider context of the Bronze Age Northern Italy, where  excavations have yielded a remarkable quantity of ceramic, metal, bone artifacts, as well as archaeobotanical and archaeozoological finds, which raised important questions about Bronze Age manufactures, land use, agricultural practices and animal farming.  

Ancient Distillation and Experimental Archaeology about the Prehistoric Apparatuses of Tepe Gawra

Author(s)
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno 1
Publication Date
11th EAC Trento 2019
***The Perfume Theme Park Museum of Cyprus’ research protocol of Experimental Archaeology (https://www.perfumecypark.org), aims at verifying hypotheses of ancient perfume manufacturing processes, to formulate a possible comparison with modern realities derived from the island’s ancient cultural heritage. What has recently emerged...

Universität Zürich (CH)

Member of EXARC
No

The Department of Archeology at the University of Zurich has an affiliated experimental archaeology group named ExperimentA (https://www.experimentarch.ch). The group runs experimental-archaeological projects, engages in public transfer (cf. images of the 2017 "Scientifica" science fair in Zurich), and is present in basic teaching modules of the study programs with experimental and empirical themes. 

From autumn 2020, specific experimental teaching modules such as exercises with material techniques and chaînes opératoires (metal, flint, textiles, wood etc.) will be part of the study programs. Moreover, BA and MA students have the possibility to choose experimental-archaeological topics for their qualification thesis, and PhD students are invited to participate in interdisciplinary research projects, or launch their own initiatives.