Mixed Matters

Book Review: Representation of the Past in Public Spheres. Experiencing the Past: the Reconstruction and Recreation of History at Colonial Williamsburg by Martine Teunissen

Author(s)
Evelyn Fidler 1
Publication Date
When I read the title, I particularly looked forward to reading this book and I was not disappointed. I am glad I was allowed to review it. Colonial Williamsburg has been held up to me as an example to follow when interpreting in living history and open air museums and also criticised when they don’t get it right...

Book Review: The Movement - Comments on the Booklet How to Organize a Historical Event involving Reenactment Groups

Author(s)
Ingrid Galadriel Aune Nilsen 1
Publication Date

What defines re-enactment and living history?

As I believe that a clarification of terms and the contextualisation of matters is a good starting point for any investigation, this question marks the beginning of my guide (Aune Nilsen 2015:6-7). Talking to organisers, museum workers and re-enactors in Scandinavia, I have noted that they all have different answers to this question.

Experimental Archaeology in Latvia: some Possibilities for Future Development

Author(s)
Artūrs Tomsons 1,2
Publication Date

Experimental Archaeology in Latvia, during the past years has acquired a new direction. Although it has a long history of experimental reconstruction, best known for the excavation and rebuilding of the Late Iron Age Latgallian settlement in Āraiši by Dr. Jānis Apals, in last years, after the initiative of the current author...

Book Review: the Lifecycle of Structures in Experimental Archaeology – An Object Biography Approach by L. Hurcombe and P. Cunningham

Author(s)
Peter Bye-Jensen 1
Publication Date
This book is made up of 16 papers that are a collection of results from a European Culture Project (OpenArch) that ran from 2010-2015. It was edited by Linda Hurcombe and Penny Cunningham. This work is dedicated to the late shipwright Brian Cumby, who was deeply involved with making replicas of several prehistoric boats...

Book Review: das "jungsteinzeitliche" Langhaus in Asparn an der Zaya by E. Lauermann (ed)

Author(s)
Wulf Hein 1
Publication Date
In 1970, the Archaeological State Museum of Lower Austria, founded by F. Hampl in the town of Asparn an der Zaya, Austria, some 60 km north from Vienna, was officially declared open. The finds excavated from the region were put on display in the castle of Asparn, whilst the living conditions of prehistoric people were...

Book Review: Management of Open-Air Museums. Workpackage 2: “Improvement of Museum Management” by Jakobsen, B & Burrow, S (eds).

Author(s)
Paul Edward Montgomery 1
Publication Date
The five year OpenArch project concluded in 2015. It was an effort to create a permanent partnership between Archaeological Open-Air Museums (or, AOAMs) in Europe. The project saw eleven participating organisations come together to – among other objectives – produce work packages that would be accessible to people with an interest in the workings of AOAMs...

Conference Review: Reconstructive & Experimental Archaeology Conference REARC 2016

Author(s)
Christopher Menke 1,2
Publication Date
REARC Conferences
***The 2016 REARC conference hosted by EXARC in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, from November 18th to the 20th, was an unforgettable experience. After a midnight drive and a short night's rest it was time to listen to papers. Everyone giving a presentation was incredibly knowledgeable and the passion they had for their topics...

Book Review: Menswear of the Lombards. Reflections in the Light of Archaeology, Iconography and Written Sources

Author(s)
Rena Maguire 1
Publication Date
Recent archaeological adventures in the beautiful Friulian region of Northern Italy had introduced me to the history of the Langobards, a Germanic people who settled in the Adriatic during the 6th century AD after a long period of southerly migration from the German/Scandinavian Baltic area...

Obituary: Steve Watts (25 July 1947 - 21 March 2016)

Author(s)
Doug Meyer 1
Publication Date
I first met Steve in the summer of 1990. I was a student at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) following a summer course in anthropology called Southeastern Indians. The course included several field trips, one of which was to the Schiele Museum where we visited the Catawba Village and listened to a presentation by Steve Watts...