7th Experimental Archaeology Conference

Persistent Identifier
https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10114

The 7th International Experimental Archaeology Conference (held in 2013) was hosted jointly by the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University and St Fagan’s Open-Air Museum (UK). The conference consisted of two days of presentations, as well as a poster session at the end of the first day. Presenters published their papers in the EXARC Journal. A review of the conference is also available, click here to view.

Featured

Investigating the Influence of the Kettle Material on Dyeing in the Industry of Pompeii

K. Kania (DE),
H. Hopkins (UK) and
S. Ringenberg (DE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/3
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***Dyeing, especially in bright, intense colours, has been one of the methods used to embellish textiles and add to their value. A considerable dyeing industry can be shown to have existed in Pompeii. The city of Pompeii was destroyed in a volcanic eruption in AD 79, but its remains were preserved in situ...

To Use or Not to Use a Minoan Chisel? Ancient Technology in a New Light

Maria Lowe Fri (SE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/2
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The Minoan chisel is thought to have been used by the metal worker, the stone mason, the sculptor, the carpenter, and the ivory and bone worker. However, barely any work has been conducted to substantiate the different workers and their chisels...

From Mead to Snakebite - An Ethnography of Modern British University Sports Team Drinking Culture and its Parallels with the Drinking Rituals of the Viking World

Matt Austin (UK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Interpretation
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The idea for this paper came, as these things often do, in a bar. The interesting twist was that instead of being an inebriated patron, I was actually working behind the bar observing the scenes of intoxicated students with a bemused expression. What began as a joke...

Stone Moulds from Terramare (Northern Italy): Analytical Approach and Experimental Reproduction

M. Barbieri and
C. Cavazzuti (IT)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Ancient Technology

Introduction

Although a long list of publications has been dedicated over the last several decades to the questions concerning early metallurgy, the achievements and the potential contributions of experimental archaeology in this area of interest still remain quite underestimated by a consistent part of academia, at least in Italy. At some official occasions the debate between the theoretical knowledge-holders and the technical skill-holders strongly emerges, but very few come back home with a true increased respect and acceptance for the counterpart's work. 

The Registry of Memory Process Applied to Experimental Archaeology in a Castromao “Oven”

Andrés Teira-Brión (ES),
Josefa Rey-Castiñeira (ES) and
Clíodhna Ní Líonain (IE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***Memory is the cognitive process that codifies, stores and retrieves past actions that are perceived in the present, generating our remembrances and perceptions of the past and informing our knowledge of the world around us (...) Applied to archaeology, memory can be understood as the marks or...

Observations on Italian Bronze Age Sword Production: The Archaeological Record and Experimental Archaeology

Luca Pellegrini and
Federico Scacchetti (IT)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***In spite of the very large quantity of Bronze Age swords in Northern Italy, only a few stone moulds have been found. Tests have shown that carving such big stone moulds (more than 60 cm long) requires a large amount of raw material, deep knowledge and skill, rather than a wide set of implements...

The Mummification of Votive Birds: Past and Present

S. D. Atherton and
L. M. McKnight (UK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Experimental Archaeology

Introduction

Animal mummies can be divided into four types: pets, mummified to accompany their owners into the Afterlife; victual, prepared and mummified food offerings for consumption in the Afterlife; cult, an individual selected based upon specific characteristics and markings to be an avatar for their prospective deity; and votive, where the whole population of certain species associated with a particular deity were classed as sacred and therefore worthy of mummification (Ikram and Iskander 2002; Ikram 2005; McKnight 2010).

From Wax to Metal: An Experimental Approach to the Chaîne Opératoire of the Bronze Disk from Urdiñeira

Aaron Lackinger and
Beatriz Comendador (ES)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The so-called ‘Treasure of A Urdiñeira‘ (A Gudiña, south-east of the province of Ourense, Spain) consists of an assemblage of three metal artefacts: two gold bracelets and a bronze button or disk, dated from the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age...

Acorn Bread in Iron Age of North-western Iberia, from Gathering to Baking

Estevo Amado Rodríguez (ES)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Ancient Technology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***Strabo's Geography is one of the main sources that archaeologists use for the study of the Castro Culture’s (Iron Age in north-western Iberia) customs on food and consumption. In his description, he affirms that during two thirds of the year, those mountaineers fed on the acorn...

Copper + Tin + People: Public Co-Smelting Experimentation in Northwestern Iberia

Aaron Lackinger (ES)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***In the present paper an experiment made in north-western Iberia for producing bronze using local ores and similar techniques to those perhaps practiced by the ancient prehistoric metallurgists during Bronze Age is described...

Living Conditions and Indoor Air Quality in a Reconstructed Viking House

Jannie Marie Christensen (DK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***During the winter of 2011 and 2012 an archaeological indoor environment experiment was conducted in two reconstructions of the same house from the Viking Age built in Denmark. The purpose of the experiment was to examine the living conditions inside the houses during 15 weeks in wintertime...

Where Were the Viking Brew Houses?

Graham Dineley and
Merryn Dineley (UK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/2
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***The authors have over 15 years' experience in experimenting with recreating ancient and traditional techniques of making ale from malted grain. Graham is a craft brewer, with 30 years' experience making beer from the grain. Merryn is an archaeologist, with an interest in malting and brewing technologies...

Fire and Bone: An Experimental Study of Cremation

C. Snoeck and
R. J. Schulting (UK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/2
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***Many bone fragments have been burned in controlled laboratory conditions but few have been burned on outdoor pyres. In order to study and understand cremated bone, it is crucial to conduct experiments in real environmental conditions. In this study several cremations were carried out outdoors...

Let’s Build a Medieval Tile Kiln - Introducing Experimental Archaeology into the University Curriculum

Gaynor Wood (UK)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/2
Experimental Archaeology
7th UK EA Conference Cardiff 2013
***As a lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) I teach a course on medieval archaeology and run a successful programme in designing exhibitions for local museums and community groups. I also encourage my students to take part in the community archaeology and history projects...