the Netherlands

Investigating Domestic Craft and Subsistence Activities through Experiments and Material Analysis Leiden University currently coordinates the project “Putting Life in Neolithic Houses”. This will take until 2025 and is funded by the Dutch Research Council NWO. Besides EXARC, there are other nine partners in this project.

The origins of the European RETOLD project, led by the international association EXARC, lie in a concern to preserve the heritage generated by archaeological open-air museums through the creation of a standardised system for collecting, digitising and disseminating knowledge (memories) of the processes of building reconstruction and handcrafted objects. The project has a duration of four years ...

Bronze cauldrons from the late Middle Ages, and the 16th and 17th century are hardly ever discovered during archaeological excavations but are usually unearthed by detectorists having discovered the find of their life. Many of these vessels happen to be damaged. Sometimes one or two legs are lost, or a piece of the rim is missing, more often they exhibit one or more dents. We know that in prehistory the ritual...

This edited volume by Dupré et al. explores the rising prominence of performative methodologies known as Reconstruction, Re-enactment, Replication, and Reworking (RRR). Resulting from a meeting of the NIAS-Lorentz Program in Leiden, Netherlands in 2015, this collection of papers by academics and practitioners ranges across chronological time (Bronze Age to 19th century) and disciplines...

‘Archaeological Approaches to the Study of the Potter’s Wheel’ was a virtual conference hosted on EXARC’s Discord server and YouTube channel from November 24th to 27th of 2020, organised by Dr Caroline Jeffra, Dr Richard Thér, Chase Minos and Dr Roeland Paardekooper. Similar to many conferences affected by COVID-19 restrictions, its initial venue location in Amsterdam, Netherlands was not possible...

The power of digital technologies to communicate archaeological information in a museum context has recently been critically evaluated (Paardekooper, 2019). A recent collaboration between members of the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel project, the 4D Research Lab, and the Allard Pierson Museum and Knowledge Institute illustrates the way that such...

This Conference was organised by the TRC Leiden and the Knitting History Forum in Leiden. On the 2nd of November 2019 I had the opportunity to visit Leiden to take part in the Knitting History Symposium. What follows are my notes and observations and therefore may not accurately reflect what was said. I am very much hoping that the different papers will with time be published and made accessible...

On June 30th 2020, EXARC hosted a Volunteer day for those based in the Netherlands at Archeon Museumpark. The main goals of this event were to connect with fellow volunteers on a face to face scenario, as well as revisiting and revising EXARC’s purpose and mission taking into account the changing world we live in...

11th EAC Trento 2019
***The amount of reconstructions of huts from the Mesolithic period all over Northern Europe has boomed over the last 5 years, signaling a significant increase in scholarly interest. However, the scientific basis of these experimental reconstructions is often unclear. At the same time, the excavation and preliminary publication of two recently discovered Mesolithic huts in the Netherlands indicate structures of a completely different build than the proposed reconstructions...