Weapons

I have been studying and training in a range of Asian and European traditional martial arts for over 20 years. I run a number of medieval martial combat clubs (looking at combat as a martial art and not a sport) and also interested in earlier period combat of the Greeks and Romans.

Since the early '90s of the last century I've been a re-enactor of both the Viking period, and of WW2. In my Viking persona I show kids and their parents what kit a warrior would have, such as a mail shirt, helmet, shield and sword and what the cost of such equipement would be.

I like the study of medieval castles and fortifications, not only for the military implications but for their construction methods, renovations and adaptations to new technologies through the eras an the many functions they had in a particularly society during their existence.

I am a PhD student in Archaeology from the University of Liverpool and my research is about how Archaic-Hellenistic Greek pottery kiln sites related with environmental and landscape settings.

I work in the field of experimental archaeology from the beginning of my bachelor studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. From 2007 I am a member of The Society for Experimental Prehistoric Archaeology working at IA NCU in Toruń.

I studied Archaeology at University College Dublin where I completed my BA and MA in Prehistoric and Experimental Archaeology in 2014. I have a particular interest in craftsmanship and embodied cognitive approaches to tool use, which I have personally explored through archery and bow-making.

My interest in experimental archaeology started at the age of seventeen when I entered the re-enactment world. It was at the meeting point of both my passions for archaeology and craft.

I have recently submitted my PhD thesis in partnership with the University of Exeter and the University of Reading. My research investigates the evidence, use and performance of stone-tipped spear technologies among Neanderthal populations in the European Middle Palaeolithic.

My name is Florian Messner and currently I'm writing my PhD in medieval archaeology at the University of Innsbruck. In my work I aim to thoroughly examine all extant swords from the 10th to the 15th century from the region of historical Tyrol.

Mike became involved with experimental archaeology while undertaking a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology at Washington College in 2013. Part of this coursework included primitive skills training in basic knapping, hide tanning, and prehistoric clothing manufacture.