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Iron Age

A Discussion on the Position of Weaving in the Society of Prehistoric Britain

Author(s)
Helen Poulter 1,2
Publication Date
There have been several recent experiments on using warp-weighted looms in Demark, Italy and Greece, some in Roman houses (Andersson Strand, 2015; Dimova, 2016). The experiments, in particular those in Denmark and Netherlands, took place in the typical rectangular longhouses used in their respective prehistories, unlike 'Britain's predominant roundhouses...

Throwing Punic Amphorae: An Archaeological and Experimental Approach to the use of the Potter's Wheel in southern Iberia during the Iron Age

Author(s)
Antoni M. Sáez Romero 1 ✉,
Ricardo Belizón Aragón 1,
Pedro A. Albuquerque 1
Publication Date
The transport of food products in amphorae was a basic pillar for the maritime-oriented economies and sustenance supplies of the Phoenician and Punic communities of first millennium BC southern Iberia. Over the last few decades, numerous investigations have been carried out aimed at identifying the manufacturing sites of these amphorae, at defining both their typological and chronological aspects...

The Ancient Magic of Malt: Making Malt Sugars and Ale from Grain Using Traditional Techniques

Author(s)
Merryn Dineley 1
Publication Date
The transformation of grain into malt, malt sugars and ale is a three step process. First, the controlled germination (malting), then ‘mashing in’ and collecting a sweet liquid known as wort and finally, the fermentation by pitching the yeast which converts the sugary wort into an alcoholic beverage. Each step requires different conditions for the process to work. They cannot be combined...

Book Review: Determining Prehistoric Skin Processing Technologies by Theresa Emmerich Kamper

Author(s)
Carol van Driel-Murray 1
Publication Date
This volume on prehistoric tanning technology is the revised and expanded version of the dissertation submitted to Exeter University in 2015. It is noteworthy in that it places experiment at the heart of the entire research programme, thereby radically changing the perspective from which archaeological and ethnographic artefacts might be approached...

Book Review: Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Jahrbuch 2020

Author(s)
Stefanie Ulrich 1
Publication Date
Annual Proceedings of the EXAR Tagung
***The 19th issue of the periodical includes 19 essays over 231 pages which present the contributions of the EXAR conference held in 2019. The annual report (Jahresbericht, p.225) and the instructions for authors (Autorenrichtlinien, p.229) of Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa can be found at the end...

Just how practical is it to Move a Warp-weighted Loom from between the Interior and Exterior of a Roundhouse?

Author(s)
Helen Poulter 1,2
Publication Date
An experimental programme at Butser Ancient Farm run between 2015 and 2017 was to investigate weaving within a roundhouse on a warp-weighted loom. Part of these investigations was an examination into the feasibility of moving the loom in and out of the house, to take advantage of the longer daylight available in summer...

Oakbank Dog Rose: A Working-model of an Iron Age Wooden Whistle from a Loch Tay Crannog

Author(s)
Simon Wyatt 1
Publication Date
In 1980 a small piece of worked wood was discovered during excavation at Oakbank crannog in Loch Tay, Scotland. It was interpreted as a whistle by Nick Dixon. While there are several other Iron Age artefacts which have been interpreted as whistles, in Britain, this is the only one currently known to the author which is made of wood. This paper describes the manufacture and sounding of a model of this Iron Age...

Weaving Production in Butser Ancient Farm Roundhouses in the South of England

Author(s)
Helen Poulter 1,2
Publication Date
From 2015 to 2017 a series of weaving experiments using warp-weighted looms were conducted in the roundhouses at Butser Ancient Farm. The aim was to focus on the working environment within the roundhouse and to assess any potential issues that may occur whilst weaving, including benefits. The results of the research would also assist in evaluating any seasonal patterns which cause productivity to...

Traces of Manufacture, Use, Repair and Modification Observed on Ethnographic Throwing Sticks and Boomerangs

Author(s)
Luc Bordes 1
Publication Date
Throwing sticks and boomerangs are present in the collections of many French and international museums. Collected mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries by travelers, they were mainly analyzed from a stylistic point of view, to relate them to their region of origin. Some of these objects were made by the indigenous populations especially to be exchanged with Europeans and only bear macro-traces of manufacture...

Book Review: Scelte Tecnologiche, Expertise e Aspetti Sociali della Produzione. Una Metodologia Multidisciplinare Applicata allo Studio della Ceramica Eneolitica by Vanessa Forte

Author(s)
Valeria Tiezzi 1
Publication Date
This book is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of Italian archaeologists interested in Prehistory and will certainly be of great use to those who are trying to gain a good understanding of pottery technology. Written in Italian, it is one of the few books in this language dealing with ceramic technology and the social aspects of the production by presenting, as a case study, the Copper Age domestic and ...