EXARC Journal - Latest Articles

Many thousands of glass beads have been excavated from Early British cemeteries of the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Amongst these beads is a type that was particularly common: decorated polychrome beads in red, yellow, and green glass in a variety of styles and combinations. Birte Brugmann, in her 2004 analysis of Saxon-period glass beads (Brugmann, 2004), named these beads “Traffic Light” (TL) beads...

Although the importance of textiles in Mesoamerica from the Classic period (AD 250-900) onward is well-recognised, until recently little research or exploration of earlier Mesoamerican textile production has been conducted. This paucity of scholarship is attributable predominantly to the scant preservation of perishable ancient tools and textiles...

Unusual or rare gems have been valued for as long as there have been humans to appreciate them. The making of beads and ornaments provides some of the earliest examples of the manipulation of materials solely for aesthetic reasons. Throughout history, we have refined the processes and constructed dedicated machinery to further enhance the desirable qualities of certain stones. The gems themselves...

The Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) celebrated their yearly conference in October 2022 in Loulé, Portugal. More than 200 people attended. EXARC is a member of NEMO and we decided to take a look. The format of the conference was not tedious at all, and everything was well organised. This made it easy to take in the information from the presenters...

Shortly before her 87th birthday Anne Reichert, well known for her archaeological reconstructions throughout Europe, died at her home in Southern Germany. From the 1980s onwards she started her career as a freelance and self-taught experimental archaeologist...

This book sets out to bring the topics of craft science and practitioner-research to a wider audience and integrate them into current craft practices. This is a subject that has seen significant development in Scandinavia but is much less common in other parts of Europe. The essays gathered here present case studies from a range of different crafts, from woodworking and pottery to gardening and textile...