Experimental Archaeology
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Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats. It employs a number of methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches, based upon archaeological source material such as ancient
structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
s or artifacts. It is distinct from uses of primitive technology without any concern for archaeological or historical study.
Living history Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to ree ...
and
historical reenactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historic uniforms or costumes and follow a plan to recreate aspect ...
, which are generally undertaken as hobbies, are non-archaeological counterparts of this academic discipline. One of the main forms of experimental archaeology is the creation of copies of historical structures using only historically accurate technologies. This is sometimes known as reconstruction archaeology or reconstructional archaeology; however, reconstruction implies an exact replica of the past, when it is in fact just one person's idea of the past; the more archaeologically correct term is a ''working construction of the past''. In recent years, experimental archaeology has been featured in several television productions, such as
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's "Building the Impossible" and the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
's '' Secrets of Lost Empires''. Most notable were the attempts to create several of Leonardo da Vinci's designs from his sketchbooks, such as his 15th century armed fighting vehicle.


Examples


Butser Ancient Farm

One of the earliest examples is Butser Ancient Farm, which recreates buildings from UK archaeology to test theories of construction, use, and materials. Today, the site features a working
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
, a
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
roundhouse,
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
village,
Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
, and
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
long halls. The work carried out at Butser has been instrumental in establishing experimental archaeology as a legitimate archaeological discipline, as well as assisted in bringing study of prehistory to the UK school curriculum. Butser still carries out long-term experiments in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing to test ideas posited by archaeologists, as well as introducing visitors to discipline.


Lejre Land of Legends

Another early example is the Lejre Land of Legends, the oldest open-air museum in
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. The site features reconstructed buildings from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Viking era, and 19th Century, and runs experiments on prehistoric living and technologies.


Other examples

*The ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition (1947), a
balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...
raft built by
Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000&nb ...
, sailed from
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to
Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
to demonstrate the possibility of cultural exchange between
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
and the Polynesian islands. *Attempts to transport large stones like those used in
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
over short distances using only technology that would have been available at the time. The original stones were probably moved from
Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
to the site on
Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
. *Since the 1970s the re-construction of timber framed buildings has informed understanding of early Anglo Saxon buildings at
West Stow West Stow is a small village and civil parish in West Suffolk, England. The village lies north of Bury St. Edmunds, south of Mildenhall and Thetford and west of the villages of Culford and Ingham in the area known as the Breckland. This ar ...
, Suffolk, England. This extensive program of research through experiment and experience continues today. *The reconstruction of part of
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...
at
Vindolanda Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ('' castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated.British windo- 'fair, white, blessed', landa 'enclosure/meadow/prairie/grassy plain' (the modern Welsh word ...
, carried out in limited time by local volunteers. *Greek
trireme A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean S ...
s have been reconstructed by skilled sailors from plans and archaeological remains and have been successfully tried at sea. *Attempts to manufacture steel that matches all the characteristics of
Damascus steel Damascus steel was the forged steel of the blades of swords smithed in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel either imported from Southern India or made in production centres in Sri Lanka, or Khorasan, Iran. These swords are characterized by ...
, whose original manufacturing techniques have been lost for centuries, including
computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...
reconstructions by the
University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...
of the
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
furnaces at Samanalawewa, thought to be the most likely sources for Damascus steel. *Experiments using reproduction
bâtons de commandement Perforated baton, bâton de commandement or bâton percé are names given by archaeologists to a type of particular prehistoric artifact (archaeology), artifact from Prehistoric Europe, whose function remains debated. The name ''bâtons de comma ...
as
spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...
throwers. *
Guédelon Castle Guédelon Castle (french: Château de Guédelon ) is a castle currently under construction near Treigny, France. The castle is the focus of an experimental archaeology project aimed at recreating a 13th-century castle and its environment using p ...
, a medieval construction project located in
Treigny Treigny () is a former commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Treigny-Perreuse-Sainte-Colombe.Ozark Medieval Fortress Ozark Medieval Fortress was a project designed to construct an accurate replica of a 13th-century French castle in Lead Hill, Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri ...
, a sister project to Guédelon * The Pamunkey Project –
Errett Callahan Errett Callahan (December 17, 1937 – May 29, 2019) was an American archaeologist, flintknapper, and pioneer in the fields of experimental archaeology and lithic replication studies. Early life Errett Callahan was born in Lynchburg, Virginia ...
led a series of extended Late Woodland living experiences in
Tidewater Virginia Tidewater refers to the north Atlantic coastal plain region of the United States of America. Definition Culturally, the Tidewater region usually includes the low-lying plains of southeast Virginia, northeastern North Carolina, southern Maryl ...
.
The World Atlatl Association
an organization devoted to the use and research of atlatls, helped lobby for the legalization of atlatls as a means of deer hunting in Missouri. *
Marcus Junkelmann Marcus Junkelmann (born 2 October 1949 in Munich) is a German historian and experimental archeologist. Life and work Junkelmann started to study history at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1971 and in 1979 he received a PhD for a thesis ...
constructed Roman devices and gear for various museums. He also tested and analyzed them in various reenactments, among them a group of
legionaries The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republi ...
in full authentic gear crossing the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
from
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
to
Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
. *Ma'agen Michael II, a replica of a 2,400-year-old merchantman; built by Haifa University and the Israel Antiquities Authority *Reconstruction of Galileo's Experiment: the inclined plane. *Reconstruction of Lomonosov's discovery of Venus's atmosphere. *Construction of a
monastic community A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
according to the ninth-century
Plan of Saint Gall The Plan of Saint Gall is a medieval architectural drawing of a monastic compound dating from 820–830 AD. It depicts an entire Benedictine monastic compound, including churches, houses, stables, kitchens, workshops, brewery, infirmary, and a ...
at
Campus Galli Campus Galli is a Carolingian monastic community under construction in Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The construction project includes plans to build a medieval monastery according to the early ninth-century Plan of Saint Gall using ...
. *
Janet Stephens Janet Stephens (née Scott) is a hairstyle archaeologist who studies historical hairstyles, aiming to prove that they were not achieved by using wigs, as commonly believed, but by styling the person's own hair. Early life Born Janet Scott, St ...
utilizing her own skill as a hairdresser to reconstruct Roman-era hairstyles, rebutting previously held theories about single-prong pins being used to hold them in place. *
Ben Marwick Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( ...
trampled experimentally-produced flaked stone artefacts into sediments excavated from
Malakunanja II Madjedbebe (formerly known as Malakunanja II) is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, said to be the site of the oldest evidence of human habitation in the country. It is located about from the ...
to show that it was unlikely that they had moved extensively through the deposit during the Pleistocene. *
Killian Driscoll Killian or Kilian, as a given name, is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Cillian. The name Cillian was borne by several early Irish saints including missionaries to Artois and Franconia and the author of the life of St Brigid. The name is s ...
undertook a series of experiments to examine the prehistoric use of vein
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
. This involved experimental
knapping Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing ...
to understand the fracture mechanics of the material; the experimental burning of quartz; and an experiment designed to investigate the ease of identification of stone tools made from quartz; this series was added to by an experiment that examined the effects of trampling on quartz tools compared to flint. *Beginning in the 1980s, a project to build an
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
Roundhouse was led by a teacher at
Cranborne Cranborne is a village in East Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 779, remaining unchanged from 2001. The appropriate electoral ward is called 'Crane'. This ward includes Wimborne St. Giles in the west and sout ...
Middle School. In 2002, the site was expanded into the Cranborne Ancient Technology Centre with an additional
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
Longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...
and
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
dwellings that are all used for educational purposes. *At
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
, Ireland, the Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture (founded 2012) is one of the only university campus facilities of this type for experimental archaeological research and teaching in the world. Their work has involved
Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
, early medieval and
Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...
houses,
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, stone, flint,
chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
, and quartz technologies;
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
, iron and glass-working; and food production. *Sutton Hoo Ships Company based in Woodbridge Suffolk UK is a 4-year project to build a full size reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo burial ship excavated by Basil Brown at Sutton Hoo in 1939. The reconstruction process is attempting to discover and use traditional boat building skills and methods that might have been used by the Anglo Saxon shipbuilders of the time. The project is being undertaken with the support and cooperation of the University of Southampton et al. You can view the progress on the SHSC website at saxonship.org as well as following the progress on facebook and instagram.


Variations

Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artifacts and
ecofact In archaeology, a biofact (more commonly known as an ecofact) is any organic material including flora or fauna material found at an archaeological site that has not been technologically altered by humans yet still has cultural relevance. Biofact ...
s for varying lengths of time to analyse the post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modern
earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...
and measured the effects of silting in the ditches and weathering and subsidence on the banks to understand better how ancient monuments would have looked. One example is
Overton Down Overton Down Experimental Earthwork (often referred to simply as Overton Down) is a long-term project in experimental archaeology in Wiltshire, England. In 1960 an earthwork was built to simulate such ancient structures. Various objects were pl ...
in England. The work of
flintknapper Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing ...
s is also a kind of experimental archaeology as much has been learnt about the many different types of flint tools through the hands-on approach of actually making them. Experimental archaeologists have equipped modern professional butchers, archers and lumberjacks with replica flint tools to judge how effective they would have been for certain tasks. Use wear traces on the modern flint tools are compared to similar traces on archaeological artifacts, making probability hypotheses on the possible kind of use feasible.
Hand axe A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually flint or che ...
s have been shown to be particularly effective at cutting animal meat from the bone and jointing it. Another field of experimental archaeology is illustrated by the studies of the stone flaking abilities of non-human primates. It has been demonstrated that
bonobo The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee, is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus '' Pan,'' the other being the comm ...
s are able to produce modified cores and flaked stones which are morphologically similar to early lithic industries in East Africa.


In popular culture

The subject has proven popular enough to spawn several re-creation-type television shows: * The 1978
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
TV series '' Living in the Past'' re-created life in an
Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
village with 15 volunteers over a period of 13 months. *
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
's ''I, Caveman'' and ''I, Caveman : The Great Hunt'' * Channel 4's ''
Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...
'' * Discovery Channel's ''The Colony'' seasons 1 and 2 showed aspects of experimental archaeology * Discovery Channel's ''
MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'' often conduct experimental archaeology to test the capability of mythical ancient weapons, including
Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...
' death ray and the tree cannon, as well as testing the capabilities of known weapons including the
hwacha The ''hwacha'' or ''hwach'a'' ( ko, 화차; Hanja: ; literally "fire cart") was a multiple rocket launcher and an organ gun of similar design which were developed in fifteenth century Korea. The former variant fired one or two hundred rocket-po ...
, wood vs. stone arrowheads, and the effects of cannonballs and splintering. * The
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...
has several re-creation farm series, including ''
Tudor Monastery Farm ''Tudor Monastery Farm'' is a British factual television series, first broadcast on BBC Two on 13 November 2013. The series, the fifth in the historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valley, stars archaeologists Pete ...
'', ''
Tales from the Green Valley ''Tales from the Green Valley'' is a British historical documentary TV series in 12 parts, first shown on BBC Two from 19 August to 4 November 2005. The series, the first in the historic farm series, made for the BBC by independent production c ...
'', ''
Victorian Farm ''Victorian Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in six parts, first shown on BBC Two in January 2009, and followed by three Christmas-themed parts in December of the same year. The series, the second in the BBC historic farm s ...
'', ''
Edwardian Farm ''Edwardian Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in twelve parts, first shown on BBC Two from November 2010 to January 2011. As the third series on the BBC historic farm series, following the original, Tales from the Green Valle ...
'', and ''
Wartime Farm ''Wartime Farm'' is a British historical documentary TV series in eight parts in which the running of a farm during the Second World War is reenacted, first broadcast on BBC Two on 6 September 2012. The series, the fourth in the historic farm se ...
''. *
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
has a series on the construction of
Guédelon Castle Guédelon Castle (french: Château de Guédelon ) is a castle currently under construction near Treigny, France. The castle is the focus of an experimental archaeology project aimed at recreating a 13th-century castle and its environment using p ...
: ''
Secrets of the Castle ''Secrets of the Castle'', or ''Secrets of the Castle with Ruth, Peter and Tom'' is a British factual television series that first broadcast on BBC Two from 18 November to 17 December 2014. The series stars archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom P ...
''. * UK based experimental archaeologist Dr James Dilley o
AncientCraft
and the University of Southampton researches the production of tools and artefacts from the Palaeolithic to late Bronze Age. As well as demonstrating his findings frequently on TV programs, his work is on display in the British Museum and Stonehenge. His recent work is exploring hunting strategies of Upper Palaeolithic people in Europe and Bronze Age copper-alloy mould use.


See also

*
Experimental archaeometallurgy Experimental archaeometallurgy is a subset of experimental archaeology that specifically involves past metallurgical processes most commonly involving the replication of copper and iron objects as well as testing the methodology behind the productio ...
*
Reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
* Butser Ancient Farm


Notes


References

* Ascher, Robert (1961): ''Experimental archeology.'' in: American Anthropologist (Menasha) 63, 4: pp 793–816. * Ascher, Robert (1970): ''Cues 1: design and construction of an experimental archaeological structure.'' in: American Antiquity (Washington) 35, 2: pp 215–216. * Coles, John Morton (1979), ''Experimental archaeology'', London a.o.: Academic Press, / , 274 pp. Republished 2010, .
Driscoll, Killian (2010). Understanding quartz technology in early prehistoric Ireland.


* [http://www.lithicsireland.ie/killian_driscoll_publications_2011_vein_quartz_lithic_traditions_analysis_experimental_archaeology_abstract.html Driscoll, Killian (2011). "Vein quartz in lithic traditions: an analysis based on experimental archaeology". Journal of Archaeological Science. 38.]
Driscoll, K; Alcaina, J; Égüez, N; Mangado, X; Fullola, J-M.; Tejero, J-M. (2016). "Trampled under foot: A quartz and chert human trampling experiment at the Cova del Parco rock shelter, Spain". Quaternary International. 424.


* Ingersoll, Daniel W., Yellen, John E., Macdonald, William (editors), (1977), ''Experimental archaeology'', New York, , 432 pp. * Mathieu, James R. (editor), (2002), ''Experimental archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes'', BAR International Series 1035, Oxford, . * Reynolds, Peter J. (n.y.)

* Stone, Peter; Planel, Phillipe, (1999), ''The Constructed past. Experimental archaeology, education and the public'', Routledge: One World Archaeology Series, , 296 pp. * Tringham, Ruth (1978), ''Experimentation, ethnoarchaeology, and the leapfrogs in archaeological methodology.'' in: Gould, Richard A. (editor): ''Explorations in ethnoarchaeology.'' Albuquerque, pp 169–199. * Verhoeven, J.D., Pendray, A.H., Dauksch, W.E., (1998),
The Key Role of Impurities in Ancient Damascus Steel Blades
', in: JOM, 50 (9) (1998), pp. 58–64.


External links


Butser Ancient Farm
Hampshire, UK
Handshouse Studio
Norwell, MA
The Lejre Land Of Legends
Denmark
EXARC
the International association of Archaeological Open Air Museums and Experimental Archaeology
EXAR
the European Association for the advancement of archaeology by experiment
The University of Exeter
MA in experimental archaeology

MSc in experimental archaeology
West Stow
Anglo-Saxon Village


UCD School of Archaeology
Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture at University College Dublin
Material Culture Studies
Material Culture Studies at Leiden University {{Authority control