Mixed Matters

The publication in 1979 of the John Coles’ book Experimental Archaeology can be called the vademecum of the experimental archaeology. Many particular experiments have been published since then, such as A Bibliography of Replicative Experiments in Archaeology (Graham et al. 1972) and...

How do you personally approach the concept of experimental archaeology?

Experimental archaeology - in my opinion - has the main and only aim to find answers to questions where classical archaeological methods fail to find them.

I liaise with a number of living history groups globally, which all share the same aims and objectives of researching and actively pursuing experimental archaeology related to Ancient Greece and Rome. By networking, we create a foundation of knowledge that meets our framework for understanding the past, whether it be military martial arts, polytheism...

EXARC, Experimenta and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid invited several universities to a round table meeting in Madrid, in May 2014. EXARC's aim was to bring colleagues into one room to share their experiences in handling experimental archaeology from an academic perspective...

OpenArch Dialogue with Skills Issue
***Food and drink are basic needs for every human being. From the perspective of our modern culinary practices, with all its specialities and customs, the traditional cuisines, and especially the pre- and protohistoric dishes, seem not only very far away, but also very primitive and have a negative connotation...

Everyone knows that the Ancient Greeks wore bronze armour. Examples have been excavated, mentioned in the literature and depicted on vases, statues et cetera. But there is also mention of something they called 'linothorax': literally, 'linen chest', meaning linen armour for the chest...

For four days in Burgos (Spain) 235 people from 15 countries gathered for the fourth, and most international thus far, Congress of Experimental Archaeology, organized by EXARC, Experimenta, the Museum of Human Evolution, and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid...

How a museum communicates to its audience has changed significantly in the past decades. With the introduction of the Internet and the creation of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, social media has become an integrated part of the everyday life of the majority of museum visitors...

The Vikings recorded many things, from The Sagas to business transactions and personal letters. But beyond a brief and occasional mention, two of the many things they didn’t write about were what they ate and how they prepared their meals. The Vikings left no recipes...

A set of eleven articles resulting from the call for papers for the Sixth UK Experimental Archaeology Conference (held in York in January 2012) is now published in a special issue of the Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences...