methods & techniques

The site of Apollonia-Arsuf (Byzantine Sozousa) is located on the Mediterranean coast, some 17 km north of Jaffa (Joppa) and 34 km south of Caesarea Maritima, Israel. The site has been excavated continuously over the last 40 years by the Apollonia-Arsuf Excavation Project. Once a modest coastal settlement, it became the main urban centre of the southern Sharon plain in Byzantine times (4th-7th centuries AD). It was during that period that the site became a major centre of primary (and secondary) glass production (Freestone, 2020), with several excavated primary glass furnaces and additionally documented ones on its terrain (Tal, Jackson-Tal and Freestone, 2004; Freestone, Jackson-Tal and Tal, 2008; Tal, 2020, pp.60-80 passim).

How elitist attitudes shape archaeological interpretations. A curious misunderstanding arose while writing about Bronze Age metalworking hearths and smiths. I stated that no tools are found at metalworking sites after the work was completed as the tools and materials would have been taken away. The reader took the statement to infer that I was arguing for the idea that metalsmiths were itinerant, as described by Gordon Childe (Childe, 1940, p.176); that they packed up and left for another settlement...

This paper explores the ‘Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience’ (CURE) model as an effective approach to teaching experimental archaeology. While the CURE model has been successfully used in STEM fields to enhance student engagement and produce positive long-term impacts on academic and career success, it has yet to be widely implemented into experimental archaeology curriculum - despite the inherently experiential, hands-on nature of the discipline...

The literature on the production of Migration Period (c.400-550 AD) gold bracteates has suggested wood as a possible material to be used for the matrix on which bracteates are made, but only in the production of a single or very few bracteates. This study experiments with how such a matrix could have been made and what part of the wood could have been used. Additionally, it examines the quality changes in serial production...

In this article we recreated garment 38 from the fourteenth century garments preserved in a graveyard in Herjolfsnes, Greenland to explore the reasons behind the stitching techniques used. Using experimental methodologies, previous knowledge of patterning, and hand stitching techniques, we constructed one half of the garment using modern hand stitching techniques and the other using period techniques...

The ethnohistoric record from the American Great Plains indicates that dried pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) strips were often woven into mats as a form of food storage. This form of food storage was likely employed over large geographical areas and deep in time, but archaeological methods for identifying their production and use have been wanting...

The Northern Isles of Scotland offer a fascinating case study for understanding past economies and resource management due to the comparative lack of trees found elsewhere in the British Isles. Archaeological evidence proves that this environment did not prevent the development of industrial pursuits in this region during the Iron Age and local accounts dating to ...

The discovery of an excavated cup with a glossy surface prompted reflection on the polishing of vessel surfaces and their mutual significance. We present the results of the application of three different polishing methods along with a reflection on their function and on the skills and ability of the potter...

Recently, the development of an independent strand of study, known as the ‘archaeology of dung,’ has resulted in numerous cross-geographical publications confirming the use of animal dung in archaeological deposits as the main fuel source and several other purposes. Most of these studies focus on the analysis of the microscopic evidence attributable to dung...

The development of effective bloomery iron smelting has progressed over the past decades from the first repeated experiments into documented, effective, methods. This progression has primarily been the work of often isolated individuals, many with great practical experience as artisans, but most often with little formal academic training...