weapon

The Iron Age Shepherd Sling

Author(s)
David Jackson 1
Publication Date
The purpose of this experiment was to examine the shepherd sling to form an understanding as to why it would appear to be the most dominant missile weapon of Iron Age Britain (Harding, 2012, p.194). The experiment consisted of making and using the sling, testing its range and accuracy to reveal its strengths and limitations. This experiment was also intended to introduce a different interpretation...

Shooting Experiments with Early Medieval Arrowheads

Author(s)
Holger Riesch 1
Publication Date
In the Merovingian era (5th-8th century AD) a lot of variously shaped iron arrowheads were used by the Franks, Alemannians and Bavarians, who dwelled in the region known today as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As archaeological artefacts, two-winged arrowheads with rhombic, willow-leaf or triangular blades represent a standard Germanic type. Iron bodkin and needle-shaped tips are also...

X-Ray Tomography and Infrared Spectrometry for the Analysis of Throwing Sticks & Boomerangs

Author(s)
Luc Bordes 1
Publication Date

In 2009, confronted to the study of throwing sticks collections from several museums and private collections (including more than three hundreds artefacts) and the need to evaluate their aerodynamic and functions, I developed a throwing stick classification and a methodology to measure their characteristics (Bordes, 2014). This approach is complementary to the gathering of ethnographic or archaeological contextual data to confirm or invalidate hypotheses about theirs functions. 

Skills Shortage: A Critical Evaluation of the Use of Human Participants in Early Spear Experiments

Author(s)
Annemieke Milks 1
Publication Date
Hand-delivered spears are the earliest clear hunting technology in the archaeological record, with origins from 400,000 years ago, before the evolution of our own species. Experimental archaeological approaches to early weaponry continue to grow, and both controlled and naturalistic experiments are making significant contributions to interpreting such technologies...

Traction Trebuchet

Author(s)
Siri Hjelsvold 1 ✉,
Simon McCallum 2
Publication Date
The trebuchet, in all its forms, was very much in vogue in the reenactment and research community in the 1980s and 1990s. Several museums around the world have also built their own, with Middelaldercenteret in Nykøbing Falster in Denmark as one of the first modern examples of counterweight trebuchet (Hansen, 1989). Despite the multitude of builds, very little has been published about...

Shifting the Sand: Replicating Black Powder Grenades

Author(s)
Stephen Lacey 1
Publication Date
Black powder hand grenades are ubiquitous for several European archaeological sites between 1600 AD and 1900 AD. Unfortunately, many archaeological reports only note the presence of hand grenades in artifact inventories, perhaps denoting some minor measurements. Only one report contains a full assessment of grenades, but this was performed by treasure hunters who excavated the pirate ship Whydah...

Weapon

An object such as a sword or a spear, used to kill or injure people or animals, usually in a war, fight or hunt.

A Gaulish Throwing Stick Discovery in Normandy: Study and Throwing Experimentations

Author(s)
Luc Bordes 1 ✉,
Anthony Lefort 2,
François Blondel 3
Publication Date
In 2010 archaeological excavations on the pre-Roman site of Urville Nacqueville, Normandy (France) discovered a shaped unknown wooden implement. This boomerang shaped wooden artefact, dated from 120 to 80 BC, has been found in an enclosure trench of a Gaulish village close to a ritual deposit of whalebones...

Stone Moulds from Terramare (Northern Italy): Analytical Approach and Experimental Reproduction

Author(s)
Monia Barbieri 1 ✉,
Claudio Cavazzuti 1
Publication Date

Introduction

Although a long list of publications has been dedicated over the last several decades to the questions concerning early metallurgy, the achievements and the potential contributions of experimental archaeology in this area of interest still remain quite underestimated by a consistent part of academia, at least in Italy. At some official occasions the debate between the theoretical knowledge-holders and the technical skill-holders strongly emerges, but very few come back home with a true increased respect and acceptance for the counterpart's work.