Mixed Matters

Book Review: Architectures of Fire: Processes, Space and Agency in Pyrotechnologies edited by Dragos Gheoghiu

Gregg Griffin (UK)
This book is a collection of six papers from the 2015 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists session with the same title, co-organised by Dragoş Gheoghiu and Derek Pitman. The contributors to this work are a global team of thirteen archaeology researchers and experimental archaeologists who have studied different aspects of the use of fire and its influence on...

Book Review: An Archaeology of Skill: Metalworking Skill and Material Specialization in Early Bronze Age Central Europe by Maikel H.G. Kuijpers

E. Giovanna Fregni (IT)
Craft is a difficult thing to define. The skills required to make objects is ephemeral. We know it when we see the results of craftsmanship, but studies about understanding the development and practice of the skills of craftsmanship are rare. Furthermore, the application of these studies to archaeology are almost non-existent. Statements about craft in archaeological literature are made in ...

Conference Review: Exploring Heritage, Museums Mediating Archaeology

Roeland Paardekooper (NL)
Our colleagues in Xanten invited us for a conference on the use of digital media in museums. Eleven speakers from Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria captivated an audience of about 75 participants. Many of the presented ideas were delivered by larger museums, some of them in the phase of execution...

Art in the Serra: Project of Heritage Experiences in the Territory of the Serra Da Capivara National Park (BR)

Jorlan da Silva Oliveira (BR)
In 2013 a team of researchers in collaboration with the community in the municipality of Coronel José Dias, around Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí-Brazil, created the Olho D 'Água Institute and since then has been developing research and didactic experiments with the communities. The project entitled Arte na Serra aims to engage communities...

Event Review: NEMO Learning Exchange in Budapest (HU)

Pascale Barnes (UK)
The purpose of this Learning Exchange was to discover more about the Hungarian museum landscape, with examples of successful programmes engaging in social responsibility in Hungary. The host and organiser Zsolt Sari, Deputy Director General of the Hungarian Open Air Museum (Skanzen), was joined by colleagues from the Ludwig Museum, the Petofi Literary Museum, and the Herman Otto Museum...

Event Review: “I Experiment so I Participate” Italian Experimental Archaeology Festival: Experience in Didactics and Scientific Dissemination

M. Massussi,
S. Tucci
A. Sciancalepore and
R. Laurito (IT)
11th EAC Trento 2019
***Participation in archaeology is the basic “inclusive process” of a human community, which allows it to identify its cultural values. Experimental archaeology with its rediscovery of gestures and techniques allows re-appropriation, a sense of belonging and ...

Conference Review: Biannual Conference of the Association of European Open Air Museums (AEOM), Poland, August 2019

Peter A. Inker (US)
This year’s Association of European Open Air Museums (AEOM) Biannual Conference 2019 took place at multiple sites in Poland, over four days in late August. Its two key themes were ‘How Open Air Museums represent different cultural identities’, and ‘Representing the past - technical solutions for reconstruction and archaeological interpretation’. I was invited to participate in order to...

Book Review: Pfeil und Bogen in der Römischen Kaiserzeit, by Holger Riesch

Antje Wilton (DE)
This book closes a gap both in the documentation of the history of the Roman army as well as the history of archery in that it provides a very comprehensive overview on the use of bow and arrow in the Roman Empire. It collects and systematically discusses a wealth of information on a range of topics related to Roman archery in the imperial period and extends that discussion to previous and following periods...