Experimental Archaeology

RIP John Coles, a Giant in Experimental Archaeology

Groundbreaking experimental archaeologist, one of the well-respected giants of experimental archaeology, John Coles, died suddenly on October 14, 2020. He will be remembered as the first to pull together all the strands of people working in experimental archaeology in the 1970s, with his books “experimental archaeology” and “archaeology by experiment”.

Coles, his gentle self, remained interested in how the world of experimental archaeology expanded and made progress. In 2009, he gave a long interview reflecting on experimental archaeology, published by EXARC (see link below).

Thanks, John, you have made a world of a difference.

הפורום הישראלי לארכיאולוגיה ניסויית - The Israeli Forum for Experimental Archaeology (IL)

The Israeli Forum for Experimental Archaeology was established in order to connect archaeologists, field and laboratory researchers and practitioners of ancient crafts, with an emphasis on collaboration, knowledge sharing and public engagement.

Our members come from a range of fields; academics, Living History groups, museum workers, educators, craftspeople, archaeologists and more. Thus, we aim to link persons involved with experimental archaeology in Israel and create a place to share, consult and learn, along with other experts engaged in the field. In addition, we endeavour to create experiment databases and coordinate experiments, workshops, and conferences. Our dogma is that through experimental archaeology, people from different backgrounds can advance research by sharing knowledge, experience and facilities.

Roe Deer as Raw Material for Middle Mesolithic Fishhooks? An Experimental Approach to the Manufacture of Small Bone Fishhooks

Anja Mansrud and
Morten Kutschera (NO)
Bone fishhooks have occasionally been retrieved from bone assemblages at coastal sites dating to the Middle Mesolithic phase (8300-6300 cal. BC) in Southern Norway and Western Sweden. Several studies of fishhooks from these sites have been undertaken in recent years. Fishhooks can be manufactured from different osseous materials, including antler, ribs and shafts of different long bones...

Experimental Research on the Neanderthal Musical Instrument from Divje Babe I Cave (Slovenia)

Matija Turk (SL) and
Giuliano Bastiani (IT)
11th EAC Trento 2019
***The supposition that an unusually perforated femur of a juvenile cave bear found at the Divje babe I Palaeolithic cave site in Slovenia could be a musical instrument led to heated debates. According to its archaeological context and chronostratigraphic position, if made by humans, it could only be attributed to Neanderthals...

Enhancing the Accuracy of Use Interpretation: The Discovery of a New Wear Formation with the Complementary Methods of Experimental Archaeology and Use-Wear Analysis

Amber Roy (UK)
11th EAC Trento 2019
***Experimental archaeology and use-wear analysis are methods used together to understand aspects of an object’s life, such as manufacture and use. This paper demonstrates the benefits of analysing use-wear through experiments. It presents the results of experiments which were carried out to test the use of battle-axes and axe-hammers...

Ceramicists, Apprentices or Part-Timers? On the Modelling and Assembling of Peak Sanctuary Figurines

Céline Murphy (IE)

Who Modelled and Assembled Peak Sanctuary Figurines?

In this paper, I explore the pervasive, yet only partially investigated, question of who made peak sanctuary figurines. Peak sanctuary figurines are small anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay representations, found by the thousands at Cretan Bronze Age mountain sites, alongside a range of utilitarian ceramic vessels and, occasionally, ceramic votive body parts and models, metal objects, stone vessels and small pebble clusters.

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)

Member of EXARC
No

Grupo de Estudos do Simbólico e Técnico da Olaria (Pottery Symbolic and Technical Study Group, (GESTO) is an active group in the area of Minas Gerais, Brazil, which focuses on practicing South American pottery techniques through experimental archaeology.

Their main focus is to spread archaeological knowledge, in particular the reproduction of all stages of traditional Amerindian pottery techniques, from the collection of raw materials to the reproduction of objects and the baking with wood fires. The group was born out of the great interest that students of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais had for experimental techniques of pottery reproduction. Now led by Prof.

University of Alberta (CA)

Member of EXARC
No

The University of Alberta is one of the top 5 institutions in Canada and is known nationally and internationally for their innovative research. They aim to foster creativity through a mixture of theoretical and practical courses. Through the Undergraduate Research Initiative, students of all levels of education can access funding for research and creative activities.

Department of Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology specializes in archaeology, biological anthropology, and socio-cultural anthropology. Courses are offered in Prehistory, Indigenous and Prairie Archaeology, as well as human skeletal and dental biology, disease processes in antiquity, and forensic anthropology. They have a number of different reference collections and laboratory spaces, including the Bryan/Gruhn Ethnographic Collection and a Photographic Studio.