Newest Era

Living Museum of the Mbunza (NA)

Member of EXARC
No

As with all Living Museums in Namibia the main focus of the Mbunza Living Museum is to provide visitors to the museum with a detailed and authentic insight into the traditional, pre-colonial culture.

The Living Museum, situated at the Samsitu Lake, is a traditional village of the Kavango, who have lived in this area for centuries. The village has been built entirely from natural material and the actors of the Museum carry clothes made from self- tanned, with Mangetti nut oil refined leather. The outfit actually had to be reconstructed from old photographs.

Living Hunter’s Museum of the Ju/’Hoansi, Xa Oba (NA)

Member of EXARC
No

Apart from getting to know the fascinating ancient culture of the Ju/’Hoansi, native to the Kalahari desert for thousands of years, experiencing a real hunt with hunters from the Living Museum is the focal point.

Here the traditional bow hunt with poisoned arrows, the digging out of spring hares and porcupines, the snare catching of guinea fowls, khoraans and other birds for the daily hunt for food has never been terminated. The San living in this area are actually the only ones of their cultural group that are officially allowed to still hunt traditionally. Thus they still master the art of reading tracks and are delighted if visitors show special interest herein. The opportunity for visitors to be able to take part in such a hunt is also unique.

Living Museum of the Damara (NA)

Member of EXARC
No

Together with the Bushmen the Damara belong to the oldest nations in Namibia. Their original culture was a mixture of an archaic hunter-gatherer culture and herders of cattle, goats and sheep. Due to their loose social structures the Damara were not able to defend themselves against aggressors during the colonization of Namibia. This is one of the reasons why their culture has to a great extent fallen into oblivion.

Within the framework of the Living Museum of the Damara an attempt was made to reconstruct the “lost culture” of the Damara. Here the visitors have the unique opportunity to get to know the fascinating traditional culture of the Damara, thus contributing to the preservation of the culture as well as to a regular income for the Damara community that built the museum.

The museum is member of the Museums Association of Namibia; the LCFN is member of EXARC.

Living Museum of the Mafwe (NA)

Member of EXARC
No

The Living Museum offers visitors an interesting insight into the life of the Mafwe. The Living Museum is an authentic open-air museum where guests can learn a lot about the traditional culture and the original way of living of the Mafwe.

They demonstrate and describe everything with great dedication and the guide translates into english. Almost every offered program is interactive, because it is also great fun for them when the visitors try to weave a traditional net or taste some of the offered meals.

The museum is member of the Museums Association of Namibia; the LCFN is member of EXARC.

Living Museum of the Ju/‘Hoansi - Grashoek (NA)

Member of EXARC
No

The Living Museum of the Ju/'Hoansi-San gives visitors an interesting insight into the life of the San. The Living Museum is an authentic open-air museum where guests can learn a lot about the traditional culture and the original way of living of the San.

The Ju/'Hoansi demonstrate and describe everything with great dedication and the guide translates into english. Almost every offered program is interactive, because it is also great fun for the Ju/'Hoansi when the visitors try to shoot an arrow, experience the special Ju/'Hoansi rope skipping or try to sing an original song.

The museum is member of the Museums Association of Namibia; the LCFN is member of EXARC.

Conference Review: A Trip to the Birthplace of Experimental Archaeology

Artūrs Tomsons (LV)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Mixed Matters
Summer is already coming to an end, but in experimental archaeology, season is not important. Following the conclusion of a field course in experimental archaeology held in the University of Latvia, it is hoped that a short report and perhaps a more detailed article will be produced in the future...

Book Review: The Value of an Archaeological Open-Air Museum is in its Use by Roeland Paardekooper

Ronan O’Flaherty (IE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2014/1
Mixed Matters
With publication of Dr Paardekooper’s monograph we now, finally, have a secure databank of facts and figures relating to archaeological open-air museums in Europe, including management structures, key financial indicators, visitor profiles and visitor numbers...

120 Years of Strategies and Experiences in Educational and Handicraft Skills

Rüdiger Kelm (DE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Mixed Matters
OpenArch Dialogue with Skills Issue
***One aim of the five year EU-funded Culture Project OpenArch is to encourage cooperation between archaeological open-air museums in Europe and ethnological open-air museums who have a long history of presenting and handicraft to the public in practical ways...

People Want Quality and They are Willing to Pay for it

Henrik Zipsane (SE)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Archaeological Open-Air Museum
The international and European notion of cultural and creative industries has not shown much appreciation of the potential of the cultural sector, especially the heritage sector. This may or may not be fair, but the perspective in the conclusions from KEA studies on cultural economy and creativity has been symptomatic for the European approach (KEA 2006; 2009)...

I Know What you Did Last Summer

Bill Schindler (US)
EXARC Journal Issue 2013/3
Mixed Matters
It was during a field trip to the National Archives with a group of college students that I first became aware of the problem. We had traveled to Washington D.C. to view the exhibit titled, What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government’s Effect on the American Diet. It was on our way home when I posed this simple question to the students, “What are your reactions to the exhibit?”...