EA Award

EXARC Award: 2nd call for applications

We have now opened the second call for applications for the 2024 EXARC Award! Sometimes, you have a good idea for experimental archaeology research, but you lack resources. That is why EXARC offers two awards of 500 EUR each for worthwhile archaeological experiments, regardless where in the world they are executed and by whom. These awards are sponsored by EXARC member John Kiernan (US).

Winners of 2023 EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award - TEAM 2

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award 2023 opened on May 1st. In the three months we received 22 applications. Thanks to our sponsor, EXARC member John Kiernan, the jury selected two winners of 500 EUR each. Both are teams of three colleagues working together, one from Spain other from US.

Team 2: Elizabeth G. Tarulis, Brigid M. Ogden, Taylor R. Bowden

TITLE: Skin Deep: Determining the Efficacy of ZooMS Methods on Processed Intestinal Artifacts

Winners of 2023 EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award - TEAM 1

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award 2023 opened on May 1st. In the three months we received 22 applications. Thanks to our sponsor, EXARC member John Kiernan, the jury selected two winners of 500 EUR each. Both are teams of three colleagues working together, one from Spain other from US.

Team 1: Javier Cámara Manzaneda1, Xavier Clop Garcia1, Ariadna Benavides2

TITLE: REACT. RE-building Ancient Ceramic Technologies: The Patchwork Technology from the Early Neolithic Mediterranean contexts

2023 EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award. EXARC offers two awards of 500 EUR each for worthwhile archaeological experiments, regardless where in the world they are executed and by whom. These awards are sponsored by EXARC member John Kiernan (US)

You don’t need to be an archaeologist to design and execute a good experiment, and it does not have to be themed with a prehistoric subject only either. What we offer may help you to start your experimental project (seed money), and we also offer publication of it in the EXARC Journal. 

EA Award: Cooking the Beans and Burying the Sherds

One of the winners of the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award is Dr Timothy Baumann. They presented a poster on the first stages of their experimental bean residue study at the University of Tennessee’s McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture for the annual Current Research in Tennessee Archaeology (CRITA) meeting in Nashville, Tennessee on January 28th, 2023. 

Examining the Physical Signatures of Pre-Electric Tattooing Tools and Techniques

Author(s)
Aaron Deter-Wolf 1 ✉,
Danny Riday 2,
Maya Sialuk Jacobsen 3
Publication Date
This paper presents the first experimental archaeological study to formally compare the physical characteristics of tattoos made on human skin using multiple pre-modern tools and tattooing techniques. Our project used eight tools fashioned from animal bone, obsidian, copper, and boar tusk, along with a modern steel needle, to create tattoos on the leg of co-author Danny Riday...

The two winners of the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award 2022

When we opened the call for funding of archaeological experiments earlier this year, by the deadline at the end of June, we received seventeen promising applications from all around the globe. The themes and approaches were truly diverse, including both creativity and acdemic rigour. Thanks to our sponsor, EXARC member, John Kiernan, the jury has been able to selected two winners of 500 EUR each: Phoebe Baker and Timothy E Baumann.

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award 2022 Call Open

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award. EXARC offers two awards of 500 EUR each for worthwhile archaeological experiments, regardless where in the world they are executed and by whom. These awards are sponsored by EXARC member John Kiernan (US)

You don’t need to be an archaeologist to design and execute a good experiment, and it does not have to be themed with a prehistoric subject only either. What we offer may help you to start your experimental project (seed money), and we also offer publication of it in the EXARC Journal. 

Check last year's winners and the procedure at https://exarc.net/cooperation/ea-award...

EA Award: How much do we know about boomerangs?

With the support of the John Kiernan and the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award

Together with kangaroos and awesome hats, boomerangs are with no doubt the symbol the Australian nation. They are wooden-made, they are arch-shaped, and when you throw them in the air, they come back to your hand. Well, that is not exactly true. There are actually various types of boomerangs, and the returning ones are usually children’s toys, used for games and learning purposes. And, after the European contact, also to seduce tourists...

EA Award: Tattoos using different pre-modern Tools

With the support of the John Kiernan and the EXARC Experimental Archaeology Award, our team is currently engaged in a study to compare the physical characteristics of tattoos created using different pre-modern tools and methods. Immediately after receiving the grant, we finalized manufacture and selection of the tools and tattooing techniques that we would use for our study. All tools were created from ethically and sustainably-sourced materials including obsidian from Waihi, New Zealand, bone from gannet and white tailed deer, and boar tusk. Ultimately we settled on eight tests: Hand tap tattooing with both a single bone point and with a boar tusk comb; cut-and-rub tattooing with obsidian flakes; hand poking using deer bone, a copper point, obsidian flakes, and a modern 7RL tattoo needle; and subdermal (“stitched”) tattooing with a bone needle...