Experimental Archaeology

Experimental Archaeology is an approach for filling gaps in our knowledge about the past, which cannot be filled through other archaeological research methods. An archaeological experiment must always answer a specific research question through practically testing production, use and/or formation of material culture and/or archaeological features. In Experimental Archaeology, testing a hypothesis in direct reference to the archaeological record is the core activity. The information gained should be impossible to obtain from solely examining original artefacts. The practice of experimental archaeology is strongly connected to the other four legs of EXARC as growing craft experience as well as interpretation can also lead to research questions and experimental projects.

A Gaulish Throwing Stick Discovery in Normandy: Study and Throwing Experimentations

L. Bordes,

A. Lefort and

F. Blondel (FR)

EXARC Journal Issue 2015/3

Experimental Archaeology

In 2010 archaeological excavations on the pre-Roman site of Urville Nacqueville, Normandy (France) discovered a shaped unknown wooden implement. This boomerang shaped wooden artefact, dated from 120 to 80 BC, has been found in an enclosure trench of a Gaulish village close to a ritual deposit of whalebones...

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The Creation of an Experimental Camp of Protohistory at the Iberian Settlement of Estinclells (Verdú, Urgell, Catalonia)

J. Morer De Llorens,

R. Cardona Colell (ES) et al.

EXARC Journal Issue 2015/3

Experimental Archaeology

The idea to create the Experimental Camp of Protohistory (CEP) emerged in late 2009. It was set up in a field adjacent to the Iberian Culture settlement of Estinclells (Verdú, Urgell), an archaeological site with only one phase of occupation that offers an exceptional portrait of life in the third century BC...

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Yeavering Reconsidered

J. T. Smith (UK)

EXARC Journal Issue 2015/2

Experimental Archaeology

1987 ESF Proceedings
The 1980s was the beginning of a boom in the construction of archaeologically inspired buildings inside and outside archaeological open-air museums.
***Brian Hope-Taylor’s report (1977) on his excavations at Yeavering was received with a unanimous fanfare of approval from reviewers...

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Recommended Literature

COLES, J.M., 1979. Experimental Archaeology, London: Academic Press.

FERGUSON, J.R., 2010. Designing Experimental Research in Archaeology: Examining Technology through Production and Use, Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

HURCOMBE, L., CUNNINGHAM, P, 2016. The life cycle of structures in experimental archaeology: An object biography approach, Leiden: Sidestone Press.

INGERSOLL, D., YELLEN, J.E. & MACDONALD, W., 1977. Experimental archeology, New York: Columbia University Press.

KELTERBORN, P., 2005. Principles of Experimental Research in Archaeology, EuroREA, (Re)construction and Experiment in Archaeology – European Platform, 2, 120-122.

MALINA, J., 1983. Archaeology and Experiment, Norwegian Archaeological Review, 16:2, 69-85.

MATHIEU, J., 2002. Introduction - Experimental Archaeology - Replicating Past Objects, Behaviors, and Processes, Mathieu, J. (ed.) Experimental Archaeology, replicating past objects, behaviors and processes, BAR International Series 1035, 1-12.

OUTRAM, A.K., 2008. Introduction to Experimental Archaeology, World Archaeology 40:1, 1-7