review

In the modern world currently, there is an interest in and desire to understand ancient craft technologies, along with learning the practical side of these skills. Nålbinding is a craft which has been taught and demonstrated for the last 50 years, mainly within heritage and re-enactment communities. The cultural and social history of this craft has survived as a narrative better in some countries than others...

The conference “Experiencing Experimental Archaeology / Experimentelle Archäologie Erleben” took place between May 9th - 10th 2020 at the Lauresham Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Lorsch Abbey site, Germany. In previous years the event was held on site through lectures, information booths and presentations, providing the visitors with information about...

Viking and Iron Age expanded boats is the English version of the simultaneously-published Danish edition, Udspændte både fra vikingetid og jernalder. The two editions are identical in layout and are heavily illustrated with colour and black and white photographs, and line drawings from a variety of sources. This review is of the English edition. By “expanded boats”, the authors mean those craft that are more...

On June 30th 2020, EXARC hosted a Volunteer day for those based in the Netherlands at Archeon Museumpark. The main goals of this event were to connect with fellow volunteers on a face to face scenario, as well as revisiting and revising EXARC’s purpose and mission taking into account the changing world we live in...

My fascination with Scandinavian yeast rings let me to meet Lars Marius Garshol, online, several years ago. It was refreshing to meet someone, even if only online, who, just like I, enjoys the practical aspects of enjoying and brewing a good home brew as well as being deeply fascinated with its traditions and history. We shared research, compared notes, and had lively discussions, even though...

The conference in Documentation Strategies in (Archaeological) Open-air Museums, organised through the Experimental Archaeology Society (EXARC), was due to be held in Berlin on March 26th and 27th 2020. Unfortunately, the first half of March 2020 saw the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic throughout Europe which caused the implementation of government restrictions on travel and...

Cometh the hour, cometh the book? There was a considerable anticipatory kerfuffle on archaeological social media about the release of Bronze Age Combat: an experimental approach, and rightly so. It is much more than just an experimental archaeology book with rather gorgeous photographs of swords, spears and shields (although it is that too!). It is a rare publication which manages to...

The Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield hosted the 2nd Experimental Archaeology Student Symposium (EAStS) between the 28th February and 1st March 2020, following on from the first successful meeting held in Newcastle in October 2018. The Symposium hosted nine papers on a variety of different experimental reconstructions of material production and processes...

Iron-Age-Danube was a cross-border project, part of the Interreg Danube Transnational Programme of the European Union. It lasted from 2017 until 2019. It counted 12 partners and seven associated organisations from in Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. The major goal of the project is to communicate a lively image of archaeological research and the Iron Age landscapes to the visitors...

The one-day conference was held on Saturday 26th October 2019 in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Scotland. The focus was on the importance of understanding craft processes as a means of interpreting the expression of identity in prehistory. This was explored in papers that focussed on crafts and craftworkers who worked in metals, wood, glass, and ceramic materials...