Experimental Archaeology

Experimental Archaeology is an approach for filling gaps in our knowledge about the past, which cannot be filled through other archaeological research methods. An archaeological experiment must always answer a specific research question through practically testing production, use and/or formation of material culture and/or archaeological features. In Experimental Archaeology, testing a hypothesis in direct reference to the archaeological record is the core activity. The information gained should be impossible to obtain from solely examining original artefacts. The practice of experimental archaeology is strongly connected to the other four legs of EXARC as growing craft experience as well as interpretation can also lead to research questions and experimental projects.

From Wax to Metal: An Experimental Approach to the Chaîne Opératoire of the Bronze Disk from Urdiñeira

Author(s)

Aaron Lackinger ¹ ✉,

Beatriz Comendador ²

Publication Date

2013-11-15

EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3

7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The so-called ‘Treasure of A Urdiñeira‘ (A Gudiña, south-east of the province of Ourense, Spain) consists of an assemblage of three metal artefacts: two gold bracelets and a bronze button or disk, dated from the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age...

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The Reconstruction of the Danubian Neolithic House and the Scientific Importance of Architectural Studies

Author(s)

Anick Coudart ¹ ✉

Publication Date

2013-11-15

EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3

Un objet de recherche […] à la fois particulièrement fertile et contraignant, en ce qu'il impose de ne jamais - sauf de façon provisoire - disjoindre le matériel du social et du mental. [A topic of research both particularly fertile and constraining because it demands the one never - except provisionally - separates the material from the social and the mental] Isac Chiva 1987 - La maison: le noyau du fruit, l'arbre, l'avenir. Terrain - Habiter la maison, 9: 5-9.

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Copper + Tin + People: Public Co-Smelting Experimentation in Northwestern Iberia

Author(s)

Aaron Lackinger ¹ ✉

Publication Date

2013-11-15

EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3

7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***In the present paper an experiment made in north-western Iberia for producing bronze using local ores and similar techniques to those perhaps practiced by the ancient prehistoric metallurgists during Bronze Age is described...

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Recommended Literature

COLES, J.M., 1979. Experimental Archaeology, London: Academic Press.

FERGUSON, J.R., 2010. Designing Experimental Research in Archaeology: Examining Technology through Production and Use, Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

HURCOMBE, L., CUNNINGHAM, P, 2016. The life cycle of structures in experimental archaeology: An object biography approach, Leiden: Sidestone Press.

INGERSOLL, D., YELLEN, J.E. & MACDONALD, W., 1977. Experimental archeology, New York: Columbia University Press.

KELTERBORN, P., 2005. Principles of Experimental Research in Archaeology, EuroREA, (Re)construction and Experiment in Archaeology – European Platform, 2, 120-122.

MALINA, J., 1983. Archaeology and Experiment, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 16:2, 69-85.

MATHIEU, J., 2002. Introduction - Experimental Archaeology - Replicating Past Objects, Behaviors, and Processes, Mathieu, J. (ed.) Experimental Archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes, BAR International Series 1035, 1-12.

OUTRAM, A.K., 2008. Introduction to Experimental Archaeology, World Archaeology 40:1, 1-7