There are probably about 3,000 archaeological house reconstructions around the world, most of them in archaeological open-air museums. This means we have already a huge amount of information and experience “locked-in” these buildings. The same is true for all other craft activities carried out in open-air museums. A lot of knowledge relating to crafts is known as tacit knowledge, meaning difficult to transfer using words. It is learned through experience. 

This wealth of information could be preserved and used for research and dissemination if documented and made digitally available in a standardised form. Only few archaeological open-air museums have enough qualified staff to carry out standardised documentation. Another factor is that the tacit knowledge locked in many craft specialists can only be really preserved through teaching the next generation. 

We would like to explore the multiple challenges regarding this during this EXARC conference. We invite papers on examples of documentation practices in other open-air museums both on the (re)construction, up-keep and decay of houses as well as on craft activities.

Please send an abstract of maximum 250 words to info@exarc.net at your earliest convenience.