EXARC Journal Issue 2012/3

Reviewed Articles

Authenticity is Fiction? Relicts, Narration and Hermeneutics

Author(s)
Jörg van Norden
Publication Date
In many ways, authenticity is everybody’s darling: the historian searches for authentic, historic texts in order to write down history objectively; the readers, naturally, appreciate an authentic description of the past; and museum visitors want to see authentic originals, not replicas...

To Be or Not to Be: Thoughts on Living History - Some Personal Remarks

Author(s)
Thit Birk Petersen 1
Publication Date
This article is based on personal experiences and observations conducted through many years as a volunteer at the Middle Age Centre in Denmark and later as a student at the Open Air Museum, Sorgenfri, Denmark. Observations and remarks made are solely personal and the article reflects thoughts I have had throughout the years...

Results of a Discussion on the State of Experimental Archaeology in Switzerland

Author(s)
T. Doppler 1,
Stefanie Osimitz 1 ✉,
Kathrin Schäppi 1
Publication Date
On 27 March 2010, the board of the Working Group on Experimental Archaeology in Switzerland (AEAS-GAES) invited a panel of experts to hold a public debate in Olten on whether the incentives that had existed at the time still played their part, how they were now constituted and what the future perspectives were...

Scandinavian Iron Age and Early Medieval Ceramic Moulds - Lost Wax or Not or Both?

Author(s)
Anders Söderberg 1
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***Since the 1940s we have had a discussion in Scandinavia concerning ancient mould-making methods. The question of different methods in the production of ceramic moulds has taken a large part in these discussions; by lost wax or by direct matrix-methods...

How Metallographic Examinations Can Give the Forming Process of Metal Artefacts? The Example of the Hoard of Farébersviller

Author(s)
Cécile Veber 1 ✉,
Michel Pernot 1
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***The hoard of Farébersviller (Moselle, France) was discovered in 1991 during rescue excavations (See Image above). This set contains 130 "bronze" artifacts, which date to the Late Bronze Age (8th century BC)...

Precision Lost Wax Casting

Author(s)
Nigel Meeks 1,
Caroline Tulp 2,
Anders Söderberg 3
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***The limits of precision casting were explored experimentally at the Bronze Casting Workshop at Wilhelminaoord, the Netherlands, by making wax models, moulds and lost wax castings using essentially early metalworking conditions. Geometrically patterned models of Dark Age type dies were used to...

The Experimental Reconstruction in Bronze of a Merovingian Treasure Box from Sixth Century A.D.

Author(s)
Frank Willer 1
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***Considerations about a lost ancient fabrication technique of bronze attachements from a merowingian treasure box pointed out that practical experiments had to be done to reconstruct the cast and coldwork. A self made oven and mould sould help to...

From the Object to the Mould: Is there a Connection between Microstructure of a Cast Bronze Object and its Mould Material Used?

Author(s)
Emanuela Jochum Zimmerman 1 ✉,
Nina Künzler Wagner 2,
Stefanie Osimitz 2
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***The question studied within the framework of the Wilhelminaoord Workshop was: In which way the mould material does influence the cast structure of a bronze object? For this, casts in two different mould materials...

Producing Silver Sheet According to Cellini

Author(s)
Martin Damsma 1
Publication Date

Experiment

When the subject of techniques of reproduction was raised these questions came back to me. Casting a slab of silver and subsequently hammering it might be a way to answer some of these questions. This would involve following the suggestions of certain treatises in combination with scientific research.

Ancient Repairs on Bronze Objects

Author(s)
Renske Dooijes 1
Publication Date
1999 Wilhelminaoord Workshop
***Bronze objects can be damaged in many ways, for example during casting or during their time of use. Often this damage was repaired using various techniques. In this paper, some examples of ancient repairs and their techniques are described and illustrated with examples published in the literature...