Leatherwork & tanning

Daily life in the paleolithic in South-Germany/North-Switzerland, cooking in rawhide, brain tanning, flintknapping. Working with museums in Switzerland and Germany at open days events. Present project is tanning with pigments. 

I'm a PhD student from Ukraine and a member of the living history club "Zastava (Stronghold)". I working on my dissertation about medieval log-boats from the southwestern lands of Kievan Rus' in the 10th-13th centuries.

My interest in experimental archaeology started at the age of seventeen when I entered the re-enactment world. It was at the meeting point of both my passions for archaeology and craft.

I am a non traditional student reentering academia after a 30 yr Hiatus. I was a volunteer with the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology for several years in my earlier years. I have now decided to return to gain a degree in Anthropology and Geology.

I am currently doing my PhD research on flint artefacts from the transitional period of Mesolithic to Neolithic in Belgium by use-wear analysis. For this research, I perform a lot of experiments using flint tools for 'Mesolithic activities', like plant or hide processing.

I started working in the experimental field while still studying at the university. Mostly I do reconstructions of iron objects and medieval shoes. These days I run the forge of the archaeological open-air museum "Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim", where I also present other crafts to the public.

Graduated archaeological studies with specialization of archaeological monuments' conservation at NCU in Toruń, Poland. I specialize in archaeological objects' conservation made of organic material: wood, leather, textiles, and antlers.

Education:

MA Archaeology from the University of Aberdeen (2014)

Since 1980 I have taught the conservation of objects (stone, glass, metal, fibers, leather, ceramics etc.) at the Department of Art Conservation at Buffalo State College (State University of New York). I have been a craftsman essentially all my life.

I am an avid practitioner of traditional living skills and primitive technology of all kinds and have followed this interest into the academic field of Experimental Archaeology, in which I hold an MA in Experimental Archaeology and a PhD on the ‘Microscopic Analysis of Prehistoric Tanning Technol